Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada DUI - CRAZY RULE

WE ARE GOING TO NF THIS FALL Moose hunting. My son’s buddy had a DUI in Connecticut 4 years ago. He is prohibited from entering Canada as we found out yesterday. He is employed by the State of CT and did all that was required of him as a result of his DUI. NASTY RULE.

So my partner has a 72 YO client that was on a cruise and stopped in the Atlantic provinces.he hears his name over the ship intercom, goes to the appointed office and is brought to the. “Brig”. Two police officers ask him if he was arrested for breaking and entering. He said yes when he was 15 years old. Mind you he is 72! The officers inform him that they won’t arrest him, he can stay on the cruise but don’t come back!

Now that’s fugged up.

It's their country, they can run however they see fit!

If you’re a Canadian travelling to the US and answer Yes if asked if you’ve ever smoked pot, you’ll be turned back.

I actually respect that stance. If you can't follow the rules in your own country, why would they let you into theirs?

Wish we'd do it.

Having lived on the border most of my life, I know several people who were told they couldn't enter Canada because of a DUI.

Canada regards DUI as a felony and they don't allow felon entry. Pretty damn simple if you ask me..
Mb

I agree with it. We have drunks in Abq, NM with 7 DUI---still out there---then they go down the wrong on I-40. Usually a mini van full of a family meets them head on.

Yeah.
Then, and only then, they are locked up.

Never quite understood how the crime is no big deal.
But the consequences suddenly are.

Dumb vastard did nothing different than on the 7 previous violations.

Always a but.
You can't keep them off the road unless they are locked up.
Blow-n-go only works on those who comply.
Many borrow a car, some get a kid to blow.

Stop whining.

You think it’s any different for a Canadian entering the USA?

If a Canadian tries to cross the border with a warrant for a $25 cat at large ticket, they are denied entering the USA. Bye bye expensive vacation. Try explaining that to the family.

I think trying to enter a foreign country with a DUI is a little more serious than a cat at large ticket.

Delay the hunt a year so he can get a pardon then hunt on.

Or he can hurry up and get that pardon so he can hunt this year.

How dare another country make laws and expect Americans to follow them! If it were reversed and citizens of other countries complaining about our laws we would tell them to STFU. We sure are an entitled country.

Must be an agreement between Canada and states with border crossings. I seriously doubt a single DUI from 2018 or a 15-year old's breaking and entering from 1966 would have shown up from any other state. We just don't keep records here like some other countries do.

Phil

If you use the southern border as a gauge, one should be allowed into Canada with a bomb strapped to your body, a bag full of coke and an 8 year old on your lap.

Yeah we do.

I shot a bear in 1993 and brought it back to the states. I get my security clearance in 2002 - 9 years later. They asked about the bear because we have the import record. Not only did we (USA) keep it, it was searchable and came up almost immediately when they looked for me in the system. Mind you I was 16, not an adult when I got that bear. Who cares from a documents stand point? Still, we had it, cataloged and ready for review back then.

Not sure why Canada is so extreme re ever having a DUI. But they are.

Some dozen years ago while working with a company in Canada, we bought a software system from a US company. The software company sent their 62 year old rep to train our staff and there was no problem in his first visit to plan out the training and transition to a new system.

We booked a car and a hotel for him during the training… and when he came to do the training he was turned away at the border. He was not allowed entry to Canada because a border cop gal discovered he had had a juvenile DUI when he was 16 years old. There was nothing on his record since, except a stellar business resume, but he was not allowed in. Our company has had excellent relations with Immigration Canada, border security personnel etc. over decades but nothing we did helped this time.

We canceled his car and hotel, plus omitted a week of meals in local Canadian restaurants, etc. We were near the border so booked hotel, car, training venue, etc. at a US town just south of the border, and our staff commuted down for the training. Lost revenue for local Canadian businesses.

I cannot see any benefit to Canada from barring this man.

As mentioned, Canada considers it a felony and has the right to restrict its border from criminals.

Doesn't matter how good of a guy he's been since. This is one of those instances when justice truly is blind, as it should be.

I'm not arguing that there isn't a lot more nefarious stuff that goes on, but if you can't handle the simple stuff, you're never going to get a handle on the tough stuff.

If I/we had a felony conviction, i/we can not enter the US, including their airspace !

That goes for our resident status here, as well as our Australian passports, so it is a 2 way street.

Thousands of people get turned back, every year, trying to come up here for hunting or fishing trips.

Surprised that any "enthusiasts", did not / do not know of this.

Anyone know about the professional sports teams? Any players have convictions?

There should be reciprocity for common crimes that are weighted differently while being identical, that’s the entire point behind reciprocity!

Good question.

They get special approval.

I think, follow the money applies there.

There are two different topics going on here, as is often the case.

One is the law itself: harsh, clear, no exceptions, been that way for many decades. That is reality, so deal with it and don't come if you have ever had a DUI. Period.

The other is whether it is a good law. What is the rationale for such a harsh law, and what good does such an inflexible application of it do for the host country? A statute of limitations, maybe after 25 years with no further police record of any kind, probably would benefit Canada economically and not cause the fall of Ottawa. But that is soft hearted logic, with no place at Canada's border which is dealing with Asian and other immigrants.

The real question to me is why is the U.S. sharing it's citizen's misdemeanor records with a foreign country? That shouldn't be happening.

It didn’t affect me but what Okanagan said in his post is rational. How many people we know had an arrest record and have done well personally and professionally. A lesson learned i guess.

It's to mosrly weed out the stupid and unlucky. Those lucky enough, (and marginally smart enough) to have never been CAUGHT DUI can go right in.

You know who you are.

5ths don't just come in bottles.....

I think that's so Canadian Customs can clear Americans coming back to the U.S. When you fly from Nisku to Denver, you hop off the plane at arrival just like you came from Memphis.

What happens when a U.S. citizen shows up at the border crossing that would take you into Tok Alaska from Canada with no record of having gotten into Canada in the first place? Assuming they are a passenger in a vehicle with a vaccinated person that legally crossed the Montana border in the vehicle in question? Would there be consequences for the otherwise legal person?

The person in question would be carrying a U.S. pasport.

Unless it's a felony DUI, the rule is having a DUI within the last 10 years.

Hastings;
Good afternoon to you sir, I hope the day down in your section of LA is behaving and you're getting appropriate weather for this time of year.

If I'm understanding your question correctly, it's a question that US Customs would have to answer as they decide who they are letting into the US or not, correct?

When you're entering Canada as a passenger, Canada Customs can and do ask a variety of questions.

My understanding is that they're able to run the US plates on the vehicle so they'll know if for instance it's stolen or if there's outstanding issues with the registered owner.

Typically when we've entered the US by car, they'll ask everyone in the vehicle their name, place of residence, purpose of the trip and duration of stay.

I'm going to guess and please know it is that, but I'm guessing that Canada Customs does that as well?

We get asked fairly often if we've ever been arrested when we're heading stateside driving.

When we fly I'm guessing all the dirt on me is on the passport that US Customs is scanning so they actually ask less questions when we're flying. Usually it's length of stay, sometimes purpose of the trip too - but since we've always been flying to warmer climates, they seem to pick up on that part.

Not sure if that answered your question or not sir, but they might ask a passenger any question that enters their mind at the time. They're watching how we answer the questions more than anything else I think, but that's a guess too.

Best to you in the upcoming week.

Dwayne

I've posed this before, but about 30+ years ago, we had an Epic crossing at the main crossing into Canada from Washington.

I'll shorten it some....

Main crossing at high noon(us) is when the smugglers and non-custodial parents try it, figuring they'll be so busy they will slide right through. Nope.
Chev 3500 with topper crammed completely full of "stuff", much of it antique furneture inherited from MIL. And camping/traveling gear.
Wet paper bag with ears of Napa Valley corn sticking out right on top, in back. Cooked and eaten in parking lot.
My wallet was stolen in Winnemucca - no ID at all
Mid July- my wife's DL had expired the previous December
No paperwork on kids age 4 and 5 (or so) at all
Loose ammo under the driver's seat (I'd taken a rifle out to my Denver brother). Different ammo tho. They asked about the rifle...
"What's in the cooler?" "Breakfast fixings". Opened (they did) , bacon, eggs, bread on top. Close. The rest of it was Napa Valley fruit...

And the winner..... a wet, leaking, 9X9X9 cardboard box. Agent kept looking at it, then inspecting something else. repeat several times, until he just moved it aside without looking at it, or asking....

Earthworms for my yard.

And into Canada we were!

Those good old days are never coming back.

There was absolutely no way we could possibly be TRYING to get away with anything (much) , so they let us through. Being a dumfg didn't used to be illegal, anyway.

las;
Good afternoon to you sir, I hope you're keeping warm and well up in the Kenai today.

Thanks for taking the time to post the story, honestly it's the stories like that which I enjoy immensely here at our cyber 'Fire.

I'll reciprocate and try to keep it brief as I'm able to.

We had family out from Vancouver Island and in those pre-911 days, we could wander down to Ben Prince's store in Oroville which was a combination surplus, Ace Hardware and a grocery chain affiliate all in one. On any given day the parking lot was jammed and it was 95% Canadian plates.

They had a really good selection of reloading equipment and supplies as well as super cheap CCI .22 ammo, so my brother in law, father in law and I piled into my wife's '90 diesel Jetta and sallied forth.

When we got to US Customs they asked the usual questions.

Where were we headed? Prince's to spend money.

How long would we be there? Less than 2 hours because we needed to be back home before too long.

The usual stuff until one agent walked out and told us to park the car "over there" and come inside.

There were maybe 4 younger looking agents, one older agent and the 3 of us who they had seated apart on 3 walls of the room. One of the young agents gave us a question sheet and a writing stick of some sort and asked us to fill them in.

The questions were, "who is the person to your left and how long have you known them, who is the person to your right and how long have you known them, who owns the vehicle, what's in the trunk of the vehicle, etc."

We started answering solo, but seeing as the other two had questions about the car, one of us - either my not shy father in law or me being me - asked if we could discuss the answers?

The one young fellow immediately laughed and said, "Sure but we're right here" to which we all shrugged and continued with the questionnaire.

There no question that my good wife owned the car but nobody had a clue what she had in the trunk other than it wasn't going to be nefarious items. I suggested that one of them could go look as it wasn't locked and maybe help us out with that one?

Then we got into whether we'd met at a fall supper, church function or exactly when, but we knew the year and the general area.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying both our exchanges because everyone was chuckling in the room.

Presently the senior agent walked up to us, took our paperwork and said to the younger agents, "You all see these three here, there ARE NOT your target audience. You folks have a great day and spend lots of your hard earned money while you're down here".

And we did just that.

Thanks for reading and all the best.

Dwayne

There are ways to get into Canada without detection. If that unvaccinated person were then picked up in Canada by his wife who entered legally in a legally owned vehicle would Canadian authorities first have to clear the vehicle occupants before you were able to get to the U.S. border authorities in Alaska? Would a U.S. citizen at the Alaska border carrying a U.S. passport be detained by Canadian authorities for not checking in through the border authorities in Montana?

As ''they'' say, asking for a friend.

Hastings;
Good evening once more sir, I still hope you're well and had a decent day.

Having some reasonably direct connections with LEO who monitor such things, I would caution you that there are more cameras, etc. out there on the medicine line than there used to be or that's what this "they" seem to indicate.

I'm not sure we have a vax requirement coming into Canada anymore? Sorry it still might be but I thought I heard it was dropped.

It's not dropped for Canucks wanting to head stateside, but you can re-enter the US as a citizen if I'm not wrong.

Again not being in the LEO business, I could only guess at to an answer to your question.

I do not believe we've got an equivalent to Homeland Security who stopped us 500 yards from crossing back into Canada to do a spot check.

One supposes that if something went awry in your travels, say a MVA or you had to use medical services it might be possible they'd trace how you entered?

Sorry I don't really have the answers you're looking for, if I do find other information I'll pass it along.

Best to you all.

Dwayne

All of the UK does the same thing on DUI. At an airport in NY headed to Ireland the guy in front of me was refused a seat without explanation. I asked if he had a DUI and he frowned and said yes.

Yeah, it doesn't sound to logical, but our two Governments have done some really stupid stuff together.
The International Carpenters Union Training center is located in Vegas fr various reasons, but any of our members who are going down for training or conferences have to have a squeaky clean record or they will be refused entry into the U.S.
Cat