[PRCo] Re: crossing the border

[Bob Rathke]

I was on business trips, and Canadian immigration usually asked questions
about the files I was carrying, how long was I staying, where was I meeting,
and was I having any of my project(marketing) work done by Canadian
companies.

Some of the interviews were conducted under the guise of a "commerce
survey".  I was never told exactly what "commerce" meant.

Bob 3/7/05

-----------------------------
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Schneider" <fschnei at supernet.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 11:07 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: crossing the border


> Off subject warning!
>
> Bob Rathke wrote:
>
> > I made dozens of trips to Canada over the decades, and I always carried
a
> > birth certificate or a passport with me, but I was never asked to show
them
> > until 1993.  Since then, the Canadian immigration officers have always
asked
> > to see my papers, and one time they even threatened to deny access to me
> > because they couldn't detect the raised seal on the papers, but they
finally
> > used their fingers to find it.
> >
> > Bob 3/6/05
> >
>
> Sorry Bob, but you lit my match.....
>
> I cannot help but wonder if the fine Canadians are doing that simply
because
> they know the U. S. immigration people are going to be bears to returning
U. S.
> citizens.   They may not want you to remain in Canada as a burden to their
> welfare system if our people will not let us come home.  What do you
think?
>
> My own observation over the last 50 years is that the Canadian immigration
> people were invariably more pleasant and understanding  than U. S.
immigration.
>
> I've watched U. S. immigration people curse foreigners for minor reasons,
often
> for not understanding English.    I've asked one of our people at
Philadelphia
> International Airport, after I had gotten off a Frankfurt/Main -
Philadelphia
> plane with one stop in Montreal, where were our people who spoke French
and
> German.  The answer was that the one person who spoke German was on
vacation and
> no one speaks French.  But anyone getting off the same craft the next
morning in
> Frankfurt would have found that any inspector on any line would speak
German,
> French and English.   What does this tell us about our desire to have
Europeans
> come here and spend their money on vacation?   My travel agent advised me
not to
> write any complaint letters to our authorities because from then on I
would be
> stopped and harassed.
>
>
> > --
>
>
>