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Canada's Toughest Border Crossing

thewalrus.ca

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Re: Canada's Toughest Border Crossing

#31

Post by amelius »

vkou wrote: post #28
snambi wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should Canada leave the aboriginal reserve, because it makes more sense?

The thing that would make the most sense would be to allow the First Nations tribe in question to vote on which country it should belong to, and, regardless of the outcome of the vote, to grant all residents of it dual citizenship (Due to existing ties that members of the tribe have to persons living outside of the reserve.) Everything else either: 1. Compromises the border. (If you don't care about the border, then…

How about a temporary change of the border? I.e., an agreement where one party gives up the region until they decide to have it back.

Re: Canada's Toughest Border Crossing

#32

Post by vkou »

amelius wrote: post #31
vkou wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that would make the most sense would be to allow the First Nations tribe in question to vote on which country it should belong to, and, regardless of the outcome of the vote, to grant all residents of it dual citizenship (Due to existing ties that members of the tribe have to persons living outside of the reserve.) Everything else either: 1. Compromises the border. (If you don't care about the border, then…

How about a temporary change of the border? I.e., an agreement where one party gives up the region until they decide to have it back.

If you do that, the problem will shift to bouncing people around between two incompatible social and economic systems. "You are now subjects of Canada, until at some indeterminate point in the future, half of you will become Americans. Again."

The land these people live on is not of vital importance to either country. As such, we should be doing right by the people who live on it.

Re: Canada's Toughest Border Crossing

#33

Post by tropo »

bonestamp2 wrote: post #5
kuhhk wrote: post #2

Reminds me of the Northwest Angle, which requires you to cross the Canada border to get back into a small piece of America that is self-contained within Canada. And odd piece of geographic borders: https://lakeofthewoodsmn.com/northwest-angle/

Also Point Roberts Washington. School kids are bussed daily from the US through Canada to the US, and then back again at the end of the day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Roberts,_Washington#Educ...

We could trade those of course, but we could also connect them.

It looks like Point Roberts needs an 8-mile tunnel and the Northwest Angle needs an 11-mile tunnel. Causeways would probably work too.

Re: Canada's Toughest Border Crossing

#34

Post by rkagerer »

I recall camping on a small island on the Canadian side of the Thousand Islands. We planned to visit a dive site a short boat trip away, on the US side. Since tying up to a mooring was technically "making landfall" in the other country (even though there was no land involved), you had to go two hours out of your way to check in with the border post first.

At the time you could apply for an I-68 pass allowing boaters to report in by phone when doing short, innocuous crossings like this (with some restrictions, i.e. the trip is less than 72 hours and you stay within 25 miles of the shoreline).

It was super convenient. I wonder if a system like that could work here?

Re: Canada's Toughest Border Crossing

#35

Post by grawprog »

walrus01 wrote: post #20
grawprog wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in Delta near Point Roberts. It's a part of America located on the southern end of a peninsula, the rest of which, is part of British Columbia. They have an elementary school but not a high school in point roberts. So, when I was in high school, most of the people from Point Roberts would be bussed into Tsawwassen but we had a bus that would bring a few of them to the high school I went to. That seems like…

I don't understand what you're trying to say. US residents can't register their children for public school in Delta or Surrey. There is a school bus that goes from point Roberts to Blaine every day, with special permission to bypass the border checkpoint, which takes all of the Point Roberts high school students to the HS in Blaine.

Some people in Point Roberts have dual citizenships. Some of the ones with both Canadian and American citizenships had their kids attend school in Canada. My highschool and a closer one in south delta had a bus for those people. Sorry my original comment was kind of unclear. There was about 6 people that took the bus from there whike I was going to school there, there was about 2000 people in my school.

Re: Canada's Toughest Border Crossing

#36

Post by labster »

vkou wrote: post #28
snambi wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should Canada leave the aboriginal reserve, because it makes more sense?

The thing that would make the most sense would be to allow the First Nations tribe in question to vote on which country it should belong to, and, regardless of the outcome of the vote, to grant all residents of it dual citizenship (Due to existing ties that members of the tribe have to persons living outside of the reserve.) Everything else either: 1. Compromises the border. (If you don't care about the border, then…

The obvious solution is for the United States to negotiate an open border with Canada. Policy changes might be needed on both sides, but the economic benefits of open borders between allies with similar economies is undeniable.

Re: Canada's Toughest Border Crossing

#37

Post by Spooky23 »

rkagerer wrote: post #34

I recall camping on a small island on the Canadian side of the Thousand Islands. We planned to visit a dive site a short boat trip away, on the US side. Since tying up to a mooring was technically "making landfall" in the other country (even though there was no land involved), you had to go two hours out of your way to check in with the border post first. At the time you could apply for an I-68 pass allowing boaters…

Probably not.

The part that’s missing in the article is that the reservation is a major hub of smuggling and various frauds.

Re: Canada's Toughest Border Crossing

#38

Post by walrus01 »

grawprog wrote: post #35
walrus01 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand what you're trying to say. US residents can't register their children for public school in Delta or Surrey. There is a school bus that goes from point Roberts to Blaine every day, with special permission to bypass the border checkpoint, which takes all of the Point Roberts high school students to the HS in Blaine.

Some people in Point Roberts have dual citizenships. Some of the ones with both Canadian and American citizenships had their kids attend school in Canada. My highschool and a closer one in south delta had a bus for those people. Sorry my original comment was kind of unclear. There was about 6 people that took the bus from there whike I was going to school there, there was about 2000 people in my school.

Even with dual citizenship, people can't just send their kids to a Canadian school if it's not their primary residence. In BC you have to show proof of location to register a kid for school, either you own your home, or you show a copy of your lease, utility bills, etc.

If I had to guess they were using relatives' houses claimed as their actual residential address. This has been a problem in Vancouver recently with people claiming false residence addresses to register their kids for the "good" elementary schools in yaletown and kitsilano.

Re: Canada's Toughest Border Crossing

#39

Post by refurb »

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #27
refurb wrote: post #17

Back when tobacco tax were much higher in Ontario and Quebec, the Akwesasne reserve was a key smuggling area for bringing low tax US cigarettes into Canada. I remember seeing videos of Ski-doos hauling sleds stacked high with cartons of cigarettes. Eventually Ontario and Quebec (and a few other provinces) dropped their tobacco taxes to remove the incentive to smuggle.[1] [1] https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/09/world/c…

How much higher could they have possibly been in Ontario? A pack of Du Maurier runs you almost $20 CAD these days...

This was a long time ago. NY Times article says $44 for a carton in Ontario versus $15 or so in the US.

Obviously different times. However, the increase in taxes in the US made even higher taxes in Canada possible.

Re: Canada's Toughest Border Crossing

#40

Post by azernik »

vkou wrote: post #32
amelius wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about a temporary change of the border? I.e., an agreement where one party gives up the region until they decide to have it back.

If you do that, the problem will shift to bouncing people around between two incompatible social and economic systems. "You are now subjects of Canada, until at some indeterminate point in the future, half of you will become Americans. Again." The land these people live on is not of vital importance to either country. As such, we should be doing right by the people who live on it.

That kind of "temporary" solution that lasts forever in practice is a good way to get around national sovereignty sensitivities, though.
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