21–30 of 62 posts
A short summary of what’s going on here: The land in question involves an aboriginal reserve that has a border going through it. Canada used to have its border post at the physical border. But felt that this allowed too much smuggling with the reserve all around it. So the feds move the border post inland: at the border of the reserve and the rest of Canada. As a result, the “correct” procedure to enter the Canadian…
The Haskell Free Library in Derby Line and Stanstead Quebec is quirky. Half in Canada and half in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haskell_Free_Library_and_Opera... Both towns are fascinating as well. Worth a visit in the summer/fall.
[0] https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125511...
A short summary of what’s going on here: The land in question involves an aboriginal reserve that has a border going through it. Canada used to have its border post at the physical border. But felt that this allowed too much smuggling with the reserve all around it. So the feds move the border post inland: at the border of the reserve and the rest of Canada. As a result, the “correct” procedure to enter the Canadian…
Should Canada leave the aboriginal reserve, because it makes more sense?
The policy under which they might gain the right to mobility - proof of ancestral custom - fixes in place what would have been a continually evolving aspect of historical culture. The Orenda discusses a particular huron tribe picking up their whole village, including their dead, and moving it somewhere else - a practice they would repeat every few years or so. They couldn't recall any one place to say "thats where ou…
By that same logic, every noble house in Europe would have gone extinct by now. It's not hard, especially when you're dealing with isolated communities, to keep a lot of genetic continuity for a long time.
To make it like aristocracy the rule should apply recursively, you are a Mohawk if 50% of your ascendants are Mohawks as defined by the same rule.
There's an entertaining CGP Grey video about other oddities in the US-Canada border. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMkYlIA7mgw Considering how inconvenient it is in some geographies and how small the patches of land are, I'm always surprised the State Department doesn't negotiate a land exchange treaty with Canada to fix what are essentially cartography bugs. Both sides would spend a few tens of millions compensati…
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…
A short summary of what’s going on here: The land in question involves an aboriginal reserve that has a border going through it. Canada used to have its border post at the physical border. But felt that this allowed too much smuggling with the reserve all around it. So the feds move the border post inland: at the border of the reserve and the rest of Canada. As a result, the “correct” procedure to enter the Canadian…
Should Canada leave the aboriginal reserve, because it makes more sense?
Everything else either:
1. Compromises the border. (If you don't care about the border, then this point is, of course, negotiable.)
2. Draws an arbitrary geopolitical line, that benefits[1] two super-powers[2], at the expense of the rights and freedoms of a nation, that has been there long before the existence of Canada and the United States, and will likely remain long after.
[1] Actually, it's not even clear if there are any benefits to the current state of affairs.
[2] Think Germany, being split in half by the East/West border - or the Berlin wall. It sure as hell wasn't built for the benefit of the Germans.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
By that same logic, every noble house in Europe would have gone extinct by now. It's not hard, especially when you're dealing with isolated communities, to keep a lot of genetic continuity for a long time.
You don't need a 50% blood line to maintain your nobility title, you inherit the title from someone else, usually your father just like, and usually along with, a house or an estate. To make it like aristocracy the rule should apply recursively, you are a Mohawk if 50% of your ascendants are Mohawks as defined by the same rule.
What's so great about those two countries that makes the border control to be overly diligent?