More on the insatiable US search for information. First, your bank accounts. Second, your mail: U.S. customs officials have been searching packages bound for a community that, for most of the year, can only be reached from Maine – and locals aren’t happy. https://t.co/UVIJ5UMriR pic.twitter.com/lVIFTLxjHp
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) October 28, 2019
The above tweet references an article in today’s Toronto Globe and Mail about the tiny New Brunswick island of Campobello. Basically, the issue is that the primary access from Campobello is through the state of Maine. A recent article in the National Post included:
The island Canada forgot: On Campobello, citizens are left exiles in their own land https://t.co/xMV0QsqXsf via @nationalpost
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) October 28, 2019
But despite Campobello’s postcard-worthy attributes, the 23-year-old Matthews has pretty much had it with the place. It’s not that the island doesn’t feel like home. It’s that Campobello makes her feel as though she is a Canadian living in exile — physically, politically, practically, medically and economically separated from the rest of the country — which, more or less, she is since the bridge is the island’s only physical link to mainland North America and it’s not to Canada.
The bridge goes to the State of Maine in the United States. This means that all mail sent to residents of this Canadian island must go through Maine for delivery to Canada. According to the article, a disproportionate amount of this mail is being searched by U.S. customs officers.
It also means (as noted by the National Post) that:
“The residents of Campobello must travel through a foreign country while transporting goods and services from one part of N.B. to another,” Richards said in an email to the Financial Post. “The regulations imposed and the new regulations enacted will make it almost impossible to conduct daily affairs.
(and you think you have problems …)
The Globe article begins with:
It’s always been hard to keep secrets on tiny Campobello, an island cut off from the rest of Canada by the frigid Bay of Fundy tides. But for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, there appears to be a new interest in peering into the private lives of its residents – through their mail.
The U.S. agency’s apparent concern over legalized cannabis has prompted an increased effort to search and seize mail bound for the New Brunswick island, and it’s got islanders saying it’s finally time they had a year-round transportation link to their own country.
“There isn’t anybody here who hasn’t had their mail opened,” said Kathleen Case, the postmistress for the island’s post office in Welshpool. “It’s not just cannabis. It’s every package, whether it’s for the nursing home or the school or the library. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.”
For most of the year, there’s only one way on or off Campobello Island, and that’s across the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge that connects to Maine. A private ferry through Canadian waters only runs in the summer months, which means domestic mail is driven about an hour through the United States by a bonded mail truck to reach the island with a population of fewer than 900.
Obviously the searching of mail at the border, is one more opportunity for the private information (of all kinds) to fall into hands of a foreign government. The following excerpt from the article suggests an analogy between this and the sending of data to the United States via the FATCA IGAs.
Islanders say they still love to live in a place where people rarely lock their doors. And they’re willing to live with challenges that include driving more than two hours to reach a hospital in Saint John, or knowing if they’re convicted of a crime, they won’t be allowed to enter the United States. But they feel their precarious situation isn’t appreciated by politicians on the mainland.
“We’re a forgotten island,” said Darlene Howlett, who runs a marine mammal interpretation centre. “We’re Canadians and we’re paying taxes here just like everybody else. But I feel like we’re being tormented for being so isolated.”
The complaints about opened mail, meanwhile, are becoming a daily occurrence as more and more packages are held up at the border. Brett Newman, the community’s mayor, understands people’s frustration. Life on Campobello has always been closely tied to whims of the U.S., but lately it’s getting to be a bit too much.
“The U.S. is within their right to search any vehicle entering the country and the Canadian government has not only continued to allow this, there seems to be no talk or any means of a safer alternative in the future,” he said. “Campobello residents are Canadians and having our personal mail inspected for no reason by another country is an attack on our very rights.”
It appears that the residents of Camppbello and U.S. citizens living in Canada share the fact that their private information is disclosed to the United States. In the case of FATCA, the Government of Canada discloses the information. In the case of residents of Campobello, the United States simply takes it.
In both cases the Government of Canada must do more to protect its citizen/residents from the “Information Sucking Tool” the United States has become.
How about we trade Camppbello to the US for Point Roberts, Washington? (Just kidding of course). My guess is that we don’t open mail sent to Point Roberts.
Same situation exists for Point Roberts WA. but in reverse. The US residents there must pass through Canada to reach the rest of the Lower States. The must re-enter through US customs and immigration to go south.
As a visual aid to USCA’s informative piece Brocker’s might want to watch this episode of “Still Standing”. It’s a light hearted look at the island (Jonny Harris is an outstanding comedian, IMHO) but the intrusive presence of the USA on this small part of Canada can still be detected.
https://gem.cbc.ca/media/still-standing/season-5/episode-1/38e815a-01156bfde75
I’ve got a soft spot for this show since a few years ago our own small town was featured. We are still standing but the empty store fronts on main street reveal that the problems continue. The extra US connected difficulties experienced by the islanders make it even harder for those folks.
I doubt that Canada opens US bound mail headed for Point Roberts, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if US Customs and Border Patrol open it. Typically they will use any excuse to get heavy handed and I think lately they feel especially emboldened since Trump took over. That and the ridiculous situation with pot legal in both Canada and Washington State but still illegal federally.
Where I live they’ve taken to stopping and searching Canadians returning to Canada about 50 feet before they get to Canada customs.
I agree witb the US checking Canadian mail entering/exiting the US.
I am sure that they catch a few potheads trying to send some pot across the border. Thank you very much Justine.
I find it bizarre that the mail deliveries are not somehow sealed, similar to a diplomatic bag, for their one-hour transit across US soil. They shouldn’t be thought to “enter” the US at all, and should be free of interference by customs.
Why is it always wrong what the US does ,whereas when we do the same ,it is somehow acceptable .Be it looking for pot in the mail or fifty feet from the Canadian border, it is valid to search for drugs.You should remember that we ,as Canadian, now have a reputation,as being a bit light-headed and thank you very much,again,Justine.
@ Ron Henderson
Actually that is a good practical solution but those types so often get ignored in this world where Logos is becoming an underdog.
@ maz57
“Where I live they’ve taken to stopping and searching Canadians returning to Canada about 50 feet before they get to Canada customs.”
Is that Canadian border control or American? Decades ago when I was returning from Mordor I remember just going straight to Canadian customs and not having to stop at American customs at all.
@RR
If it’s mail on its way to a US destination, they have every right to waste as much time and money as they want looking for contraband weed. But this mail is not on its way to a US destination. It’s transiting the US on its way to Canada.
I’m pretty sure that mail between Canada and Mexico is not routinely searched when planes land in the US to transfer cargo. (Though for all I know they probably do that too, they are dumb enough.)
@EmBee
US border patrol and they search the cars while they are stopped on the road waiting to go through Canada customs. I’m not sure what they are looking for, but it seems a bit silly. If there is contraband, its leaving the country, not entering, so what’s the problem? I seem to remember reading somewhere that anywhere within 100 miles of the border, US border patrol has the right to stop and inspect anybody for anything so they may well be doing it simply because they can do it.
@RR
“Why is it always wrong what the US does”
I don’t know. Its uncanny, isn’t it? You’d think they’d accidentally get it right at least part of the time. I think it was Winston Churchill who said “You can count on the Americans to do the right thing but only after they’ve tried everything else”.
I wouldn’t want to try to defend JT on a charge of being an airhead, though. After all, from the US point of view, his signature accomplishment is legalizing pot.
Maz57 wrote:
For more info on the 100-Mile Border Zone, aka the Constitution-Free Zone, here’s an article from WCSH, Portland, “The ‘100 Mile Border Zone’ and what it means for Maine Immigration checks,”
and an info sheet from the ACLU, “Know Your Rights in the 100-Mile Border Zone“.
I live in Illinois, just under 20 miles west of the western shore of Lake Michigan, the only of the Great Lakes entirely within U.S. territory. The nearest Canadian border crossings are at Detroit/Windsor, 353 miles from home, Port Huron/Sarnia, 411 miles from home and Sault St. Marie, MI/ON, 548 miles from home. Yet, I live in what the ACLU properly characterizes as a “Constitution Free Zone,” in which the Fourth Amendment, barring warrantless searches, does not apply. I have never encountered immigrants from Canada swimming the length of Lake Michigan to illegally enter the U.S. and take jobs from Americans. Despite the fact that there is no immigration problem from Canada, my Constitutional rights are curtailed!
Interesting – this house was for sale which straddles both the U.S. and Canadian border.
https://globalnews.ca/news/3567283/this-border-straddling-u-s-home-has-a-door-that-leads-right-to-canada/
On the Point Roberts situation:
https://youtu.be/DSePKJEDXFs
Many years ago I worked at Logan International Airport (BOS) and I distinctly remember offloading Swissair, bringing Canada-bound Swiss mail to the U.S. postal facility. I wonder how much other mail they searched.
Trudeau should make a case before the Permanent Court of Arbitration over Machias Seal Island, and then tell the Chinese that this is how these things are settled by civilized countries that respect the Rule of Law.
Those people in Point Roberts really don a fence. I guess it would be offensive.
@Tom Alciere
Do you think our “civilized “southern neighbor respects the rule of law Rather,they prefer to force/manipulate you into using “the rule of law” to suit their needs .Is that any better?
Rather dislike it when someone claims to be more civilized and cultured than another. We have enough injustice here .Focus on that .
Jefferson wrote that Canadians have special rights in the United States in the Federalist Papers. As far as I know, these rights have never been enumerated or discussed or argued. Since the Federalist Papers have been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court, I don’t see why they can’t be asserted in a court of law in the U.S. in this instance.