Originally Posted by
CBSAguy
Correct. I've read that particular manual in its entirety. It is referring to the immigration portion of the examination. Once a person hands me his Canadian passport at primary, I scan it, take a brief look at it, and if I believe it to be a legitimate document, the immigration portion of the examination has been completed and that person is, indeed, then allowed entry to Canada. Any further questions I have for that person form part of my Customs examination. Whether or not he has drugs, undeclared cigarettes, firearms, etc. in his bags, he is allowed entry to Canada by right. This does not mean the Customs portion of the examination is over.
I see, so questions such as " Who my wife went to Mexico with 4 mths ago" (as I mentioned last week) is an appropriate question to ask? No, it is not. If I have filled out the Customs form and stated that I don't have drugs, weapons etc then you may ask me verbally again "Do you have any drugs, weapons etc." but you can just take your nose out of our personal affairs - that is 'FISHING' and as you can see by all the people writing and reading this thread (I may be wrong but is this not the fastest growing thread?) a lot of Canadians don't like what you are doing.
Of course, we support stopping the entry of illegal drugs, weapons etc but the people doing that are a tiny proportion of travellers whereas the CBSA people treat ALL travellers as if we were criminals. Is this a misguided effort to treat all people equally? CBSA behaviour is actually WORSE than authoritarian states I have been to and most people on this thread agree - I keep on asking you, CBSAguy but you don't answer my simple question - Why are Canadian Customs DIFFERENT ( ie WORSE) than most other civilized countries?