Why does everyone get nervous when they go through Customs and Immigration at a border crossing?\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell you why.\u00a0 It\u2019s because their system is so damn random.\u00a0 You could be the most upstanding citizen in the world and that\u2019s not going to protect you from being treated like a potential terrorist.\u00a0 The immigration officers at Mirabel and I got to know each other pretty well.\u00a0 Mirabel (which is probably one of the ugliest airports ever constructed) was Montreal\u2019s international airport.\u00a0 I had a work visa that was facilitated by the Montreal company I worked for.\u00a0 Because the company was constantly touring internationally, I was leaving and reentering\u00a0Canada a lot – and my reentry usually came through Mirabel.\u00a0 EVERY TIME and I do mean EVERY SINGLE TIME we arrived at Mirabel, I would wait in one of the long immigration lines (which makes me wonder why they never put more officers on duty when several flights arrive at the same time), and when I would finally reach the immigration officer, he would take one look at my papers and send me to the detainment center where I would have to sit for half an hour while they poured over my papers.\u00a0 EVERY SINGLE TIME.\u00a0 One day, I finally had had enough.\u00a0 We arrived at Mirabel and rather than heading for the inevitable endless lineup, I walked past them all and started towards the detainment center.\u00a0 A guard stopped me and told me \u201cYou can\u2019t go this way, Miss.\u201d\u00a0 I looked at him.\u00a0 \u201cLook,\u201d I said, \u201cYou know and I know that I am just going to end up over there anyway.\u00a0 I just thought I\u2019d save us a little time this time.\u201d\u00a0 He looked at me.\u00a0 He called over another officer and they had a discussion that I couldn\u2019t hear.\u00a0 I was sent back to the lineup to wait my turn – but I never got sent to the detainment center again.<\/p>\n
The dance company was traveling back to Canada from the USA.\u00a0 We made our entry in Winnipeg.\u00a0 As all of us cleared Immigration and Customs, we noticed that we were missing half of the company.\u00a0 On closer inspection, we realized that we were missing only the French-speaking members of the company.\u00a0 We sat and waited outside of the customs doors.\u00a0 Twenty minutes later and we still hadn\u2019t seen any of our missing dancers.\u00a0 The doors opened and one of the immigration officers came out.\u00a0 I stopped him.\u00a0 \u201cExcuse me sir, could you tell me why only our French speaking dancers are being detained?\u201d\u00a0 He looked at us and then walked back into the customs room.\u00a0 Our dancers soon started to emerge.\u00a0 You know that sign at Canadian Immigration that gives you the option of which official language (French or English) you would like to communicate in?\u00a0 Well it appears that on that particular day (and who knows if this was the practice at the time in Winnipeg) that anyone who asked for the French service was detained.<\/p>\n
Sometimes we would return to Canada via the USA.\u00a0 Marianne was missing for forty-five minutes during one passage through a New York City airport.\u00a0 When she finally rejoined us \u2013 she was clearly upset.\u00a0 She had been subjected to a total body search.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t just the body search that upset her, it was also the fact that she didn\u2019t understand enough English to answer the questions that the immigration and customs officers were barking at her.\u00a0 Imagine not speaking the language and then getting hauled off to a room where your clothes are being removed.\u00a0 Understandably frightening.\u00a0 Now -Marianne did speak some English BUT her English language skills were at a rudimentary level \u2013 fine for carrying on simple conversations but not good enough when it came to understanding difficult words,\u00a0 accents or slang.\u00a0 With rudimentary language skills in a difficult situation, you\u2019re pretty much as clueless as someone who doesn\u2019t speak the language at all.\u00a0 My French-Canadian husband Jacques did speak English, but he never understood a word spoken to him while we were in Ireland.\u00a0 Their accents didn\u2019t make any sounds that he recognized.\u00a0 The same thing for me.\u00a0 Although my French could get me through Europe and Africa- to this day – I have never understood a word my mother-in-law has said to me.\u00a0 She speaks with a heavy Quebecois accent and uses a lot of slang.\u00a0 She might as well be speaking Swahili for all I understand.\u00a0 Anyway – after the\u00a0Marianne incident, we came up with a game plan for going through USA Customs.\u00a0 Each American citizen in the company would pair up with one of non-English speaking French dancers and help them through the procedure.\u00a0 The next time while entering NYC, I paired up with Marianne.\u00a0 I went through first.\u00a0 No problem.\u00a0 The officer told me I could leave.\u00a0 He turned to\u00a0Marianne and then noticed me still standing there.\u00a0 He repeated, \u201cYou can go.\u201d\u00a0 I explained that I was staying to help Marianne because she didn\u2019t understand the language.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry Miss, but you can\u2019t stay.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cBut she doesn\u2019t understand what you\u2019re saying.\u201d I replied.\u00a0 \u201cMiss, you are going to have to move now.\u201d\u00a0 There are moments when being brought up in a culture that celebrates the cowboy bully mentality of George Bush is a definite bonus.\u00a0 I glared at this guy and my voice started to rise over the din.\u00a0 \u201cYou can\u2019t tell me what to do.\u00a0 I\u2019m an American and I know my rights and I am going to stay right here until this girl is finished.\u201d\u00a0 I still can\u2019t believe he backed down.\u00a0 Sometimes you just have to bulldog your way through a situation and hope for the best.<\/p>\n
The first time we arrived in Argentina the military dictatorship was still in power, the Falklands War had just finished and we had been told by the company director to not stop in front of government buildings.\u00a0 \u201cWhy?\u201d I asked.\u00a0 \u201cBecause they shoot first and find out who they killed later.\u201d\u00a0 I just stared at him.\u00a0 \u201cLook,\u201d he said, \u201cIf you see a cop or a soldier, just turn around and go the other way.\u201d\u00a0 Needless to say, the atmosphere as we arrived in Buenos Aires was tense.\u00a0 We ran into problems immediately at the airport.\u00a0 The young blond and extremely handsome immigration official was not about to let us enter the country.\u00a0 I still don\u2019t know what the problem was.\u00a0 Maybe it was the fact that we were a Canadian company and Canada was part of the British Empire.\u00a0 All I did know is that we were not going anywhere.\u00a0 While the company manager and the immigration officer argued, I looked around.\u00a0 There were two queues of people going through immigration.\u00a0 We were all standing together in one line (because it was generally easier to deal with official matters en masse) and the line next to us was practically empty.\u00a0 Once the final passenger went through, the other immigration officer started to wave us over.\u00a0\u00a0 Apparently he had no problem with letting us enter.\u00a0 One by one we moved over to the other line and crossed.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think the blond officer was aware of the fact that we were part of this group he was blocking.\u00a0 When he finally caught on as to what was happening, a fight ensued between the two officials.\u00a0 As their shouting match escalated, other officials arrived.\u00a0 Eventually everyone was allowed to pass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why does everyone get nervous when they go through Customs and Immigration at a border crossing? I’ll tell you why. It’s because their system is so damn random. You could be the most upstanding citizen in the world and that’s … Continue reading