Travelling hunters;
This is a quick update on another situation which we're finding ourselves in on this side of the medicine line which you may want to be aware of.
The good folks at Canadian Border Services have decided that any folding knife which has an addition or device which allows it to be opened with one hand - so thumb stud, hole in the blade, flipper, etc - is now classed the same as a switchblade or gravity knife and as such prohibited. Such folding knives - which of course is most of them nowadays - are now no longer able to be imported into Canada.
Please don't ask how that makes any sense whatsoever, because it does not and in fact most LEO, firemen and First Responders that I know carry just such blades. They've been legal and available either online or at the local auto parts, Canadian Tire stores for 40 years so why wouldn't they be as common as a cup of Tim Horton's coffee.....
It would be a shame if a visiting hunter got one/several/all of their knives seized - and that conceivably could take place now.
As always, its a good plan to check with their website to see what they'll say about an individual bringing their own personal knife up here - that may be okay and then again if left to the discretion of the individual officer it may not.
Speaking personally I don't cross the medicine line with anything other than a Leatherman Wave anymore as I don't feel like donating any of my folders to the Canadian Border Services at present.
We're working toward getting this mess sorted out, but with the current folks in charge back east, we're not hopeful for any significant change until after an election which would see them unemployed - and we're working on that for sure too.
Good luck on your hunts wherever they may be and all the best.
Dwayne
