I would say this is the problem. Canada seems to be the only country where the immigration officer and the customs officer is the same person.

In other countries, the first person you see is the immigration officer where all you do is establish your identity and see if you can enter the country (hence the "scan passport", "look at your face" and "wave you through", and "no further questions" thing in most other foreign countries). Note: No customs questions are asked at this point.

Then you would go claim your bags at the baggage claim.

When exiting the baggage hall, that's when the customs examination would start. If you have stuff to declare, you go to the red lane, if you don't have stuff to declare you go to the green lane. In some countries such as Australia, if you go to the green lane, all your bags automatically get x-rayed. The customs officers during that stage would see if you are acting strange, nervous etc. and determine whether they need to pull you over for a full baggage inspection.

I've never heard that one before. Who says..... ?

My point is, let's not kid ourselves. Already in North American airports we've had a guy tasersd to death and then a Canadian who was rendered to Syria. Scary stuff.
Don't believe for a second that we have it differently from any other country. What you see "over there" is rapidly coming "over here". No longer do you have your friendly local police patrolman or government agent.
It's all gone militarized, black face masks, SWAT-style.
Tag 'em and bag 'em, tasers and zip ties first, trial (maybe) later.

The new buzzword is: Pain Compliance.

Check it out, even the transit police in Vancouver are tasing people who show the slightest bit of resistance.

B.C. transit police stun fare cheaters with Taser

Not to go off topic but I'm making the comparision that all types of security, including in airports, has become militarized and more extreme.

which makes little sense. A short trip with 2 big bags like Johnny Depp in "Blow" would be more suspicious to me...

Most countries are like that, yes, and I do prefer that system. However, US and (as I recall) Mexico are rather similar, though, where you hand over your customs card to immigration, and they can make decisions about not only your admissibility but also your customs declaration.

CBSA would love to get these
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe...and/index.html

I prefer that system too (where the first person you see is just an immigration officer and nothing more).

Remember, first impressions count! and can go a long way for a country.

Even though customs inspections (the part after baggage claim) may be more intrusive in certain countries, 90% of the travellers who are law abiding will not be subject to it at all. All they would have experienced in the process is the immigration officer (who would do little questioning) at the first stage.

As such, this gives Canadians a sense that the foreign countries are less intrusive in their immigration/customs procedures at airports (in comparison to when they return to Canada). (Unless they have been pulled over as they exit the baggage hall and subject to intense scrutiny at the foreign airport)

Come live in Canada for a while and pay our high taxes.. then you'll see eventually how bad it can get here when travelling outside Canada and returning to Canada.

I've had my share of nice officers, but then I've had my share of officers who just push the button and a hole appears under my feet sending me to secondary.

Sanosuke!

It would be naïve to pretend that that sort of thing doesn't happen, but I don't believe that's the whole story. I can't remember the last time I was randomly secondaried, but on all three of my last overages (YYZ x 2, YVR x 1), I've been sent to secondary and an agent has looked through all of my possessions before telling me how much I needed to pay.

I'm surprised how many of you have customs problems. I leave the country and return probably on average of once a month. often on business, sometimes for pleasure, sometimes to buy things like cars and boats. i'm young (24), and often travel alone. I've never been to secondary unless importing a vehicle, once they searched it, but they remained polite and never accused me of anything.

'm usually going between US and canada. And usually my trips are maybe 3 day turnarounds.

The worst that happened to me was when the customs agent in Victoria, coming off the coho ferry from port angeles, when i was re-entering canada (where i'm a born and raised citizen), asked me how i could afford a trip to philadelphia to buy a car, and told me i looked nervous. That was before i was a frequent border crosser, maybe 2 years ago. and it was a pretty simple answer anyway. it's called credit.

What does "roving" mean? Isn't it correct under both the Customs Act and the AML-ATF Act that roving plus subsequently questioning randomly on outbound flights is not allowed without reasonable grounds?

You are not allowed to intercept everyone outbound to ask questions about anything as to possible customs or money laundering infractions can you, without probable cause to do so, or are you saying that Charter violation would be allowed?

Ironically as to this whole arrivals discussion on the whole I find the YYZ arrivals CBSA to be quite polite and there is limited questioning away from the establishment of identity. I have on occasion, refused to answer questions apart from those quoting the same manual and didn't wind up in secondary, I merely pointed out they were inappropriate , asked the purpose of the questions relative to my Charter rights, and advised that my declaration of goods (usually nothing) was accurate.

I agree reasking the $10K question to those obviously in command of English is not necessary but it happens 100% of the time.

I'd only worked for a year when i got my nexus card.

i dont think the rest of the world views us as arrogant or unyielding.. in fact anywhere i've been i've been treated incredibly thanks to my canadian passport.. so cant agree with u there..

write in N/A if you haven't been employed. Your lack of employment history doesn't disqualify you.

Why should I have to pay an extra $50 a year to get better treatment? I have a passport that cost me a lot of money (for only 5yrs compared to other countries 10yrs) - I expect the same treatment as a NEXUS person.
Maybe we should have different levels of passport (is that what NEXUS really means?).
How about GOLD or PLATINUM passports?
Are some citizens now going to be more equal than others.

The biggest problem most of us have is being delayed by inane, unnecessary, aggresive questions.

The process used in EU, Australia, etc. of green/red lanes would be a welcome change.

Simon