Lest the OP become confused by these two examples of altered circumstances:
Originally Posted by
hjohnson
The exception to this rule is if you're flying Intl->USA at YYZ. You go directly to US Immigration, and never talk to a Canadian border agent.
In fact one must still satisfy Canadian immigration requirements. There is no inherent visa/passport waiver for this connection. If the USA declines to accept you, they will "send" you to Canada.
Originally Posted by
28isGreat
A normal international transit area doesn't allow you to leave the gate area without going through customs/immigration. (I believe this is the case in YYZ T1, though I've never gone through it.) And because of this, most airports that I have used that have this (*outside* of North America!) don't bother processing you when you are in transit.
The Eurpean model doesn't exist here. Interesting anecdote your comment may be, but the OP will not gain from it as the model at YYZ, which you say you have never gone through (T1 at least), is in fact closer to the "normal international transit area" for North America than not.