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Source: (consider it) Thread: The Canada Border Service Agency
Uncle Pete

Loyaute me lie
# 10422

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I call The Canada Border Services Agency to Hell.

The elderly man's only crime was driving while sick and First Nations.

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Even more so than I was before

Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333

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Bastards.

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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou

Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008  |  IP: Logged
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768

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What occurs to me is, do they specifically select people as border guards with these "qualities", or do the guards develop them after getting the jobs? I've heard bad things about US Border staff from the aged Canadian MiL of my sister, and seen similar stuff reported of our own in the press here.

If they are selected, why, and shouldn't the selectors be got rid of and replaced with better people? If there is a BG internal culture, why is it tolerated, and shouldn't the managers be got rid of and replaced with better people? And there should be regular retraining in how to treat people like people and not like sub-humans.

But it looks as if they powers that be want it this way.

Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
Uncle Pete

Loyaute me lie
# 10422

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It was better before the Gummint privatised the service previously run by the Customs and Immigration Department. Badly run privatised company, who are no longer civil servants.

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Even more so than I was before

Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
Lyda*Rose

Ship's broken porthole
# 4544

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quote:
Originally posted by Uncle Pete:
Badly run privatised company, who are no longer civil servants.

In any sense of the word.

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"Dear God, whose name I do not know - thank you for my life. I forgot how BIG... thank you. Thank you for my life." ~from Joe Vs the Volcano

Posts: 21377 | From: CA | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Welease Woderwick

Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424

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If it is now worse than it used to be then heaven help us all! My two mixed race nephews, then late teenagers, were forced to strip and then put naked in a holding cell when returning to Windsor from a trip to see friends in Detroit. They were also not that pleasant [bloody rude] to me when I crossed the border at that same point.

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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details

What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?

Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
no prophet's flag is set so...

Proceed to see sea
# 15560

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Some information about this appears wrong. CBSA is not a private company, it is a public agency and employees are civil servants.

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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/

Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010  |  IP: Logged
Sober Preacher's Kid

Presbymethegationalist
# 12699

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quote:
Originally posted by Uncle Pete:
It was better before the Gummint privatised the service previously run by the Customs and Immigration Department. Badly run privatised company, who are no longer civil servants.

Er, first Customs, which was always separate from Immigration was merged with Revenue Canada to form the short-lived Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.

Then Customs was merged with Immigration to form the CBSA after 9/11.

Dear me, Pete, your Old Fart score is increasing. [Disappointed]

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NDP Federal Convention Ottawa 2018: A random assortment of Prots and Trots.

Posts: 7646 | From: Peterborough, Upper Canada | Registered: Jun 2007  |  IP: Logged
Uncle Pete

Loyaute me lie
# 10422

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quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
Some information about this appears wrong. CBSA is not a private company, it is a public agency and employees are civil servants.

They sure as hell don't act like they are civil.

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Even more so than I was before

Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
Sober Preacher's Kid

Presbymethegationalist
# 12699

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Meet the new boss: same as the old boss. This surprises you about the Government of Canada?

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NDP Federal Convention Ottawa 2018: A random assortment of Prots and Trots.

Posts: 7646 | From: Peterborough, Upper Canada | Registered: Jun 2007  |  IP: Logged
Soror Magna
Shipmate
# 9881

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I know an outstanding graduate with lots of good work experience who applied for a job with CBSA. She bombed the interview completely, because when they asked how she would deal with certain situations, she kept trying to find a way to help the traveller and find a solution. Apparently she never learned how to tell customers to just leave and never come back.

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"You come with me to room 1013 over at the hospital, I'll show you America. Terminal, crazy and mean." -- Tony Kushner, "Angels in America"

Posts: 5430 | From: Caprica City | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
no prophet's flag is set so...

Proceed to see sea
# 15560

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quote:
Originally posted by Uncle Pete:
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
Some information about this appears wrong. CBSA is not a private company, it is a public agency and employees are civil servants.

They sure as hell don't act like they are civil.
A like button would be incredibly overused just now! [Overused]
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010  |  IP: Logged
Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468

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Another bad experience from a couple of years ago: an NPR producer and friends went to Canada for a wedding, and ran into major problems on the way back--from the US border folks.

Of course, if you do that to a radio producer--particular one from the somewhat edgy "On The Media" show--they're going to air something about it.

"My Detainment Story or: How I learned to Stop Feeling Safe in My Own Country and Hate Border Agents."

This was turned into a great comic at The Nib.

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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")

Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894

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quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
quote:
Originally posted by Uncle Pete:
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
Some information about this appears wrong. CBSA is not a private company, it is a public agency and employees are civil servants.

They sure as hell don't act like they are civil.
A like button would be incredibly overused just now!
That's what the quotes file is for.

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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.

Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006  |  IP: Logged
Gramps49
Shipmate
# 16378

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Last time I went north I ended up playing 20 questions with the Canadian border guard. I thought she was just trying to get me flustered so she could pull me over. When I returned to US all the border guard asked was if I had any Canadian Liquor.

Our daughter lives about a mile from the Canadian border. Her daughter and her can go over fairly easily. Husband is barred. Husband is trying to get a Queens Pardon. I just sent in a character reference letter. Has to do with something that has been expunged from the US record a number of years ago.

Daughter married a Filipino so granddaughter is quite brown. They have never had any problem with the Border Patrol. Actually, granddaughter's friends are children of Border Patrol agents.

On the other hand, the University of Idaho has a regional band competition in February. A number of Canadian bands come down to participate. They tell us they have to play twenty questions with the American Border patrol. Every so often a Canadian band is not allowed entry because the kids are minors and have to have special permissions from parents to come across. If one kid forgets or can't find his/her permission the whole band is denied entry.

Posts: 2193 | From: Pullman WA | Registered: Apr 2011  |  IP: Logged
Soror Magna
Shipmate
# 9881

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Yeah, because people who abduct children will infiltrate a marching band to cross the border. The job does require an active - and paranoid - imagination.

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"You come with me to room 1013 over at the hospital, I'll show you America. Terminal, crazy and mean." -- Tony Kushner, "Angels in America"

Posts: 5430 | From: Caprica City | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Firenze

Ordinary decent pagan
# 619

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FB post about middle-aged white couple with UK passports crossing from Canada to US...

Passports taken away. Car keys taken away. Wait in dingy station. This your car? Where have you been? What were you doing there? When did you arrive? When do you leave? Where from? Address you are going to? How do you know each other? Where do you live? You have that form but you need this one. That'll be 12$. Welcome to the USA.

(That's a much reduced version of the questions.)

Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
Oscar the Grouch

Adopted Cascadian
# 1916

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When I first arrived in Canada, I had an awful experience at the airport. After an 8 and a half hour flight and then waiting an hour to get my bags, I went into the immigration hall - which was filled to overflowing (a plane from Manila had just arrived with Filipinos all coming to work at Tim Horton's - I could see their documentation). I waited three hours there - standing - because the immigration staff couldn't handle the influx of people. Not that they were trying hard. At no point were there more than three desks open (usually it was two) and it was common to see staff strolling around and then having a long chat with each other.

By the time I reached the head of the queue, I had long missed my connecting flight (though thankfully Air Canada proved to be very accomodating) and was exhausted (already been awake for more than 24 hours). Still - I knew that my case would be simple. I had checked before hand and been told that all I needed was my passport and my letter of appointment. I duly handed them over. The young man dealing with me (who had clearly had a personality amputation) then took over an hour to study my letter of appointment intently. It was a standard letter of appointment from the Anglican Church. Nothing weird. Then he asked me all sorts of questions. How long was I staying? Well - indefinitely. My appointment is open-ended and so I hope to be here for good. This was not good enough. "You have to give me a number." Ok - how about 10 years? "No - that's too long. I'm giving you a year."

More inane questions followed before I was finally given my permission to stay - for a single year (since extended - but that's another story).

I compare that with my experience of driving into the States this year with my daughter (visiting from England). Sure, we had to fill out forms and stuff. But the guy was friendly and chatty and pretty helpful. I'd been warned to expect the worse but was pleasantly surprised.

What is it with the endless suspicion? Every time I have entered Canada, I have faced a barrage of questions about where I am going, who I am going to see, why I wanted to come to Canada any way. I've always come away with the feeling that it would have been better for all concerned if I had chosen to visit any other country in the world.

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Faradiu, dundeibáwa weyu lárigi weyu

Posts: 3871 | From: Gamma Quadrant, just to the left of Galifrey | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged
Soror Magna
Shipmate
# 9881

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Our of curiosity, which airport was that, and how long ago?

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"You come with me to room 1013 over at the hospital, I'll show you America. Terminal, crazy and mean." -- Tony Kushner, "Angels in America"

Posts: 5430 | From: Caprica City | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Oscar the Grouch

Adopted Cascadian
# 1916

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YVR - Just over 18 months ago.

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Faradiu, dundeibáwa weyu lárigi weyu

Posts: 3871 | From: Gamma Quadrant, just to the left of Galifrey | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged
no prophet's flag is set so...

Proceed to see sea
# 15560

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That's probably the worst airport for security inspections I've ever encountered, but our last trip from abroad through customs, it was a self-scan passport and declaration card and hand it in as you left the gallery.

When I flew my blind father back alone to Canada after being away for some 20 years after my mother died, the CBSA agent called me into the secure area and was inordinately kind as he filled out all of the forms so as to clear the 1500 lb shipment of personal belongings and items without duty. -- I think it is an "it depends".

I had an experience like your's at Heathrow in London. I waited for 2½ hours a after two flights and 20 hours of travel with no explanation as to why, and I wasn't even staying in the country, just passing through, and yes, on a different plane than planned. After that we've never accepted routing through the UK unless actually needing to stay in the country. Give us a German or Netherlander any time over a Brit bastard.

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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/

Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010  |  IP: Logged
Oscar the Grouch

Adopted Cascadian
# 1916

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quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
Give us a German or Netherlander any time over a Brit bastard.

As you say, "it all depends". Mrs Grouch tells everyone to avoid Schipol airport in Holland if at all possible, after a painful encounter there when she was on her way back to the UK from Tanzania.

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Faradiu, dundeibáwa weyu lárigi weyu

Posts: 3871 | From: Gamma Quadrant, just to the left of Galifrey | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged


 
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