OUR WELCOME TO CANADA!
Date to Remember: May 24, 2010
“Mr. Smith, please park your RV over at that curb and both you and your wife come inside our office.”
Hmmm, not exactly the cheery greeting we were expecting from these friendly neighbors to our north. But this is what we heard from the man at the window as we were about to exit the customs stall at the Canadian border at Sumas, WA.
“Yes, Sir,” we replied and puzzled, we walked into the Canadian Customs office and up to the counter.
“Where have you come from? How long have you been traveling? How long have you planned this trip? Do you own any registered firearms? How many? Where are they now? When you travel with firearms inside your rv, where to you keep them?” And on and on the questions continued.
“It just doesn’t make sense to us that you would plan a trip to Alaska, knowing that you must pass through Canada, and you would not leave your firearms at home. We have a problem here.”
“Sir, we carry our firearms in our motor home because we live in our motor home. We understand that we cannot carry firearms into Canada, that’s why we made arrangements to leave them in Bellingham with my wife’s sister,” Greg tried to explain.
“So, you’re telling me that do not have firearms onboard? And you do not have ammunition onboard, is that correct?” he asked again.
“Yes, that’s correct, Sir, we do not have firearms with us and we have no ammunition,” Greg replied.
“Mr. Smith, please hand us the keys to your rv and have a seat over there near the wall with your wife. We feel the need to look through your rv.”
“Yes, Sir,” Greg said as he handed over our keys and together we walked over to take a seat.
Not five minutes later, the officer burst back into the lobby, “MR. SMITH! RIGHT NOW! COME OVER HERE, I WANT TO TALK TO YOU! NOW!” Greg stood up and walked over to this man’s corner behind a privacy screen. I stood up and started to join him “NO! YOU STAY THERE! MR. SMITH ONLY!”
Jeeze Louise! What the Hell is going on, I wondered. Behind the screen I could hear this man instructing Greg “Pull up your shirt, empty your pockets, pull up your pant legs. Higher! Up above your socks.”
Holy Crap! What’s going on? Why is he so upset with Greg? What in the world? Soon he dismissed Greg, told him to sit down and wait, and he then called me over to the same screened counter.
“What was your husband’s position before he retired? What was yours? You look like a nice, sensible professional couple. Can you explain to me why, within less than five minutes in your motorhome, we would find THIS!” and he held up a gun clip filled with six 380 gauge shells.
“I have no idea, Sir.” Again, he asked, “if you left your firearms and all your ammunition behind in Washington, WHAT is this clip doing in your motorhome?” “Sir, all I can say is my husband must not have realized it was there when we took the guns and the ammo out of our coach.” “So, are you telling me this was a case of an innocent oversight?” “Absolutely, Sir,” I replied.
“Well, Mam, finding this clip gives us cause to believe that there is another firearm inside your rv. While you appear to be upstanding citizens, we see this situation every single day. Can you imagine any reason why anyone would smuggle a firearm into Canada on their way to Alaska?” “I don’t know, maybe for self protection? Against bears, moose, bad guys? Who knows.”
“Mam, finding this clip in your motorhome after you clearly declared that you did not have any ammunition or firearms onboard leaves us no choice but to completely search your motorhome. This is going to take several hours, perhaps all day because we intend to search every possible place a firearm could be placed. Believe me, we know every place anything could be hidden. And this will take even longer for you because we will not put anything back into place. You will have to completely repack your motorhome, do you understand?”
I looked him straight in the eye and said, “Yes, Sir, I understand.”
“Now, Mrs. Smith, one last time: before we go out there and literally tear apart your motorhome, is there anything you’d like to tell us or say to us?”
“Well, OK, Yes, Sir, there is. Alright, back in the bedroom under the TV there’s a cabinet …
“Yes”, they leaned forward eagerly.
“OK, down in that cabinet are a bunch of boxes and containers. Please, be very careful with those boxes. They are full of beads. Please do NOT knock them over. That’s happened before and it’s almost impossible to get those beads picked up once they spill, so please do not knock over my beads. That’s all, Sir. The rest of the stuff is good; you can go through it with no problem.”
After a momentary pause and a blank look of frustration, he barked, “Mrs. Smith, go take a seat.” “Mr. Smith, I want you outside with me, now.”
He said that they said that I said ...
I sat down and waited. Greg came back in and I couldn’t believe what he told me. He said that they said that I said that we do have another gun onboard. “What! They said that I said WHAT? NO WAY! You’ve got to be kidding! Those damned liars?” We were stunned. And I was mad!
But now they were gone again. Searching in our motorhome again for a gun that wasn’t there. All because of one forgotten clip. We sat there, speechless and in utter disbelief. It was horrible!
Suddenly, within five minutes, they came back into the lobby. The number one dude came over to us, handed us our passports, the clip and our keys. “Mr. Smith, do you realize that having this clip is a serious violation and represents a $500 fine? However, I’m going to give you the benefit of a doubt and waive the penalty fine. I believe this was a careless oversight. You may go now and continue on with your trip.”
