Crackdown On America’s Least Wanted Tourists Say Canadian Interrogation Borders On Rude

When a convoy of elderly Spokane golfers drove to Canada this month, it faced an unexpected interrogation and toll at the border.

A terse Canadian customs officer questioned the men about their criminal records and asked whether they’d ever been arrested for drunken driving.

Three of the 20 golfers admitted to past DWIs. In one case, the arrest occurred 10 years ago; another was 16 years back.

It didn’t matter. The three men were told that to enter Canada, they had to pay $95 for a brief visit or $286 for unlimited access.

The once-easy jaunt into Canada is turning into a tense and expensive passage for many Inland Northwest tourists - especially if they admit past DWIs.

Canadian immigrations officers say they simply are enforcing long-standing laws.

But they also concede they are becoming more vigilant now, in part out of improved computer crime-checking ability and a growing fear of U.S. criminals.

“I guess we’ve all watched ‘America’s Most Wanted’ where they say, ‘We found so and so two weeks later in Canada,”’ said Sharron McFadden, acting manager of immigration at Douglas, British Columbia.

The new border tenor rankles some travelers long accustomed to brief, cordial international encounters.

The three elderly golfers decided to pay the unexpected $95 tolls at the Rykert, B.C., border north of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. They had already invested in the trip.

But for Bob Meyer, who has been traveling to Canada for 40 years, the Rykert encounter soured him on visiting the neighboring nation.

Meyer waited for a half-hour while one of his passengers was interrogated, then hit with the $95 bill because of an old DUI.

“I didn’t like the questions,” Meyer said. “I didn’t like the intimidating tone. I didn’t like the threats.”

Meyer, 61, said he just canceled another trip with friends to the Creston Golf Club because he doesn’t want to face the interrogation again.

Meyer said the encounter was not only disturbing but puzzling. “If they don’t want people with previous arrests or previous DWIs, paying $95 doesn’t seem to justify getting into the country. That logic is not consistent.”

The $95 pays for the paperwork involved in producing a “waiver” to allow the entry of an “inadmissible” tourist, Canadian authorities explained. The “inadmissible” label applies to anyone convicted of a major crime, for which Canadians include DUIs.

U.S. immigration has similar policies and standards, but does not turn away or charge a fee to Canadians who have DUIs in their pasts.

Canada’s border policy was alarming news to the golf pro at the Creston Golf Club, about 10 miles north of Idaho.

“Over the course of a week these guys are going to spend 10 grand up here and they get hit with (a $95 fee) at the border?” asked Garth Baulkham, who said the club relies on U.S. tourists for much of its business. “What kind of flavor does that leave in their mouth?”

A foul one.

“The attitude from the moment I arrived at the window was antagonistic,” said Dale Gough, 74, recalling the morning he pulled his Cadillac up to the Rykert border checkpoint.

Gough said the customs official was officious and hostile. “I’ve been up there many times. Here I was a tourist going up there to spend money. It’s the first time I’ve run into this kind of quizzing or attitude.”

One customs official at an Idaho-B.C. checkpoint, said border entries vary in vigilance, but that Canada is very serious about drunken drivers.

“People are going to smarten up down there and realize the same thing once enough people turn up dead,” said the official, who requested anonymity.

He also said it’s not hard to figure out who to ask the tough questions.

“If someone looks like you might suspect a person looks who has been arrested for something, then you can ask the questions,” he explained. “You get a feel for people after you work here awhile.”

, DataTimes