# Canadian border question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 22, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590 "2016-08-22T00:26:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/21 "2016-08-22T18:26:39Z")
There were some enterprising young men who used this unprotected border to their advantage by simply walking through the woods with backpacks full of weed from Canada into the U.S. I think they became multi-millionaires before finally getting busted. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/22 "2016-08-22T18:29:43Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Sometimes it’s hard to think of you guys as damned furriners, until you spell neighbor wrong 🙂 You can’t even pronounce the last letter of the alphabet properly! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/23 "2016-08-22T22:32:00Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > One thing to note is that while a couple treaties specify that much of the border is along the 49th parallel, the actual border is where the boundary markers are. NM. Wrong war ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/24 "2016-08-22T22:37:58Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Sometimes it’s hard to think of you guys as damned furriners, until you spell neighbor wrong 🙂 Actually, we spell words like “neighbour”, “colour”, etc. correctly, the way actual English speakers intended. 🙂 It was the anti-Brit sentiment in revolutionary America that motivated many to start spelling words wrong as a sign of rebelliousness, a principle later promulgated by Noah Webster and others. Had they succeeded more thoroughly, “tongue” would today be “tung”, words like “are”, “give”, “have”, “definite” and “live” would all have lost the “e” at the end, “though” and “through” would be “tho” and “thru”, “guard” would be “gard”, and “wished” would be “wisht”. In any case, I am here to answer the question “Can 1500 Americans come over into Canada with no ID whatsoever?”. The answer is: absolutely they can, [as indeed they just did](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/floatdown-sarnia-americans-wash-ashore-1.3730792) when a strong wind was blowing toward Canada. “Americans everywhere!”, said officials of the Canadian Coast Guard, the Sarnia police, the Ontario Provincial Police, and the Canada Border Service Agency, as they plucked them out of the water! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/25 "2016-08-23T15:57:48Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > There were some enterprising young men who used this unprotected border to their advantage by simply walking through the woods with backpacks full of weed from Canada into the U.S. I think they became multi-millionaires before finally getting busted. If what you’re referring to took place in the 1990s then that was some damn fine weed. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/26 "2016-08-23T19:41:46Z")
> [@Mr.Bill](#): > > Looking at the area you mention, I strongly suspect that the actual border is not the white line with Canada on one side and United States on the other. I think that is Google Maps’ approximation and that the actual, enforced border is the terrain feature which goes east/west just north of the white line. It’s not scrupulously straight, but it looks like a 20 yard clear cut (with possibly a ditch or trench) to me. > > There’s a very similar feature on the east side of Boundary Lake which IS directly under the white line. No, the border on Google Maps aligns with the clearcut (or “boundary vista”, to give it is proper name). The field does indeed seem to cross into Canada. The wiggly line through the trees just to the north is a track. > [@Keeve](#): > > Yeah, in their never-ending efforts to use more screen space, they end up hiding these features so that we can’t use them. I can no longer find where they hid “Create a link to this map”, or whatever it used to be called. To get a direct link, click the three-line menu icon to the left of the search box at top left. Then choose “Share or embed map”. Then you get a link, with an optional tickbox for a short URL, eg: [Google Maps](https://goo.gl/maps/fFMD7GtNYbB2) > [@Spiderman](#): > > I’ve swerved down Line road at the CAN/VT border like a damn drunk driver, “I’m in Canada, I’m in the US, I’m in Canada, I’m in the US, I’m in Canada, I’m in the US”. Line Rd is a dirt/gravel. If you mean [this road](https://goo.gl/maps/r2N1546sxyk), it appears the whole road is in the US, and the border runs along the northern edge. So unless you swerved onto the shoulder, you were still in the US. There doesn’t seem to be Street View along the road itself, but you can see the [high-security barrier](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Line+Rd,+Alburg,+VT+05440/@45.0109754,-73.334926,3a,60y,177.81h,81.12t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLJ9naOWm0cDI0zsMYYhn7Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x4cc989ab3ec02a69:0x8d7431c4b010cc7b!8m2!3d45.0111799!4d-73.3152616) from the Canadian side. There’s lots of oddities around there. Check out [this house](https://goo.gl/maps/vTdnuykcNer). Follow the driveway all the way back to the south. They really wanted to get as close to Canada as they could! ---
**Author:** ![bb49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b38774/32.png) [@bb49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bb49)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/27 "2016-08-23T20:57:02Z")
Those of you that have never been out west, should take a look at Point Roberts. A small, isolated part of Washington state. It is completely cut off from the rest of the US, except by air and sea. If you want to get there by land from the US, it means two border crossings. Canada provides it with electricity, cablevision and water, and in return, Pont Roberts sends it’s sewage to Canada. :eek: Thank you. The majority of the people living there and owning property are Canadians. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/28 "2016-08-23T22:41:55Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > … “though” and “through” would be “tho” and “thru”, … Patience, brother, it’s happening! ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/29 "2016-08-23T22:45:44Z")
> [@bb49](#): > > Those of you that have never been out west, should take a look at Point Roberts. A small, isolated part of Washington state. It is completely cut off from the rest of the US, except by air and sea. If you want to get there by land from the US, it means two border crossings. > Canada provides it with electricity, cablevision and water, and in return, Pont Roberts sends it’s sewage to Canada. :eek: Thank you. > The majority of the people living there and owning property are Canadians. One thing I find amusing is that it didn’t have to happen. It came about, of course, because when they agreed to carry the 49th parallel out to the strait as the border, they didn’t know until they surveyed that it cut off Point Roberts that way. After they did realize it, apparently one of the British officials said something like “Now, that’s just silly - tell the Americans that if they cede it to us, as it’s pretty useless to them, we’ll exchange an equivalent piece of land above the 49 parallel.”. Presumably, the US would have wound up without Point Roberts, and with something like a little bump on the east side of the bay, say just north of present day Blaine, WA where there’s now a cluster of streets ostensibly in Surrey, a small provincial park and a golf course. The Americans didn’t go for it, and stuck to the terms of the agreement. ---
**Author:** ![oregongrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@oregongrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oregongrown)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/30 "2016-08-24T03:51:15Z")
Tons of good information dopers. Glad some of you could also see the field cutting across the line. I still am surprised the International Boundary Commission would allow that. Maybe the crew that keeps the border clear of trees doesn’t mind because it makes their job easier. I guess we may never really know. That is unless someone here lives in North Dakota and wants to go banging on a door. ---
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/31 "2016-08-24T06:38:13Z")
Interesting topic. I hope I’m not straying too far from the OP, but are there actually any countries with borders completely separated by a physical wall? My impression and travel experience is that most borders, except for the sections where customs is located, are relatively open. I mean, just from a logistical standpoint, it seems ridiculous to even put up a wall across the entire span of two countries’ borders. Sent from my P01M using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/32 "2016-08-24T11:53:15Z")
> [@bb49](#): > > Those of you that have never been out west, should take a look at Point Roberts. A small, isolated part of Washington state. It is completely cut off from the rest of the US, except by air and sea. If you want to get there by land from the US, it means two border crossings. > Canada provides it with electricity, cablevision and water, and in return, Pont Roberts sends it’s sewage to Canada. :eek: Thank you. > The majority of the people living there and owning property are Canadians. And on the East Coast we have a small part of Canada that can only be accessed from the USA. [Campobello Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campobello_Island) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/33 "2016-08-24T11:56:24Z")
> [@dofe](#): > > Interesting topic. I hope I’m not straying too far from the OP, but are there actually any countries with borders completely separated by a physical wall? The India-Pakistan border is (almost?) entirely delineated by floodlights and a fence, I believe. [India–Pakistan border - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_border#/media/File:India-Pakistan_Border_at_Night.jpg) Also now with added lasers! > **[Is the complete India-Pakistan border fenced? If not, why wouldn't...](https://www.quora.com/Is-the-complete-India-Pakistan-border-fenced-If-not-why-wouldnt-infiltrators-use-the-unfenced-part-to-come-into-India)** > > Answer (1 of 6): Being a security professional working out on Indian borders & critical infrastructures for years , I find myself opt to add an answer to this question. > > Since independence of India and Pakistan, the border has been a site of... ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/34 "2016-08-24T13:26:51Z")
Thanks to technology, anyone walking across the border is noticed. Cameras, heat sensors, and motion detectors are everywhere. And if you think otherwise, you’ll end up in jail > **[Quebec man sentenced after smuggling drugs via sled](https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-man-sentenced-after-smuggling-drugs-via-sled-1.3041728)** > > 21-year-old Cedrik Bourgault-Morin of Quebec, was found with about $1.6 million worth of Xanax pills after he tripped a sensor while smuggling the drugs across the border in a sled on Jan. 13. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/35 "2016-08-24T14:40:18Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > The Americans didn’t go for it, and stuck to the terms of the agreement. Which allowed my daughter and I to spend a delightful day there, wandering around, indulging our inner map geek personae. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/36 "2016-08-24T16:32:16Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > There’s lots of oddities around there. Check out [this house](https://goo.gl/maps/vTdnuykcNer). Follow the driveway all the way back to the south. They really wanted to get as close to Canada as they could! That doesn’t look like a house. It looks like two oddly shaped buildings, but I can’t tell what it is from either Google or Bing aerial photos. There has to be a story about that property and LONG driveway. I didn’t find anything searching by the road name where the driveway connects (St. Armand Road). ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/37 "2016-08-24T17:07:02Z")
Then we have the [International Peace Garden](http://www.peacegarden.com/index.html), constructed so as to allow visitors to wander about back and forth across the border. The entrance is between the US and Canadian customs in North Dakota and Manitoba. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/38 "2016-08-24T17:23:51Z")
BTW, we’ve also mentioned [Machias Seal Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machias_Seal_Island) on this site several times. That one would probably would have been settled, except that it hinges on the resolution of the maritime boundary. Canada and the US don’t really care that much about the island per se, but they do care about fishing and mineral rights. Also, if you look in the CIA World Fact book, you find that the maritime boundary at the Strait of Juan de Fuca isn’t settled either - and you thought the [Pig War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_War_(1859)) took care of that. Nope, just the ownership of the islands. Possibly more serious now that climate change is making the northwest passage practical is that Canada insists that it has the right to control traffic through the Canadian Archipelago, and the other maritime nations believe it to be international waters with right of transit. There’s already been a few incidents of Canada getting annoyed because some US military and Coast Guard vessels have passed through without permission. The US / Canadian maritime border in the Beaufort Sea isn’t settled either. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/39 "2016-08-25T05:18:37Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Which allowed my daughter and I […] Sorry. Us busy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590/40 "2016-08-25T10:23:30Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Then we have the [International Peace Garden](http://www.peacegarden.com/index.html), constructed so as to allow visitors to wander about back and forth across the border. The entrance is between the US and Canadian customs in North Dakota and Manitoba. There’s also the Peace Arch between Blaine, WA, and Surrey, BC. You can see that the line on Google Maps is fractionally south of the actual line of the white border monuments. https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=49.0021335,-122.7571227&z=19&output=embed&dg=ntvb&q=Peace%2BArch%2BState%2BPark What I want to know is why the Arch itself is set at a slant, rather than aligned with the border. I think I read somewhere that there was a reason, but my Googling is turning up nothing now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-border-question/763590.md?page=3)