I have a question.

I was studying/working abroad - still a resident of Canada, paying taxes etc. When I came back to Canada for a visit at Christmas I was asked to provide proof of my return flight to the UK. I was a bit miffed that as a citizen I was questioned on when I'd be leaving. Is this a normal question to be asked?

Luckily I had my itin printed out and I dug through my bag for that and it seemed to satisfy the guy. I don't know what would have happened if I couldn't provide proof on the spot.

Travelling on a Canadian passport? No doubt about your citizenship? If so, I cannot see the point of the question, given the information provided above. But I wasn't there.

I'm not going to speak for that officer. What I will say is that I try to keep my questions directly related to a person's admissibility to Canada and to the admissibility of their goods. I'd say for about 70% of the returning residents I process at primary, I don't ask much other than where they're returning from, and even that's just often to avoid 30 seconds of silence. If the declaration card is filled out completely and everything seems to fit, there's usually not much need for me to ask much of a returning Canadian.

I suppose sometimes after processing 50 or 60 really sketchy foreign nationals who can't articulate why they've come to Canada, don't know who they're visiting, and have no apparent means of financial support, it could take a couple minutes to come down from that highly-suspicious mindset.

It sounds like you're implying a couple things:
1.) Canadian Citizens don't commit crimes or shouldn't be examined upon returning to Canada.
2.) The right of privacy is paramout.

In fact, Canadian citizens have a lower expectation of privacy while crossing the border according to the Supreme Court of Canada. In my own personal opinion, the officer has a duty to determine whether or not a passenger in front of him deserves a second look through any questions posed.

Yes and no doubt.

Probably just an off day for the agent. Thanks for the reply.

Come on, now. A Canadian citizen would never bring cocaine, prohibited weapons, or home-made child pornography back to Canada after a trip abroad, would they? ^^

A few years ago, an U.K.-resident Canadian citizen FTer was asked by the immigration/customs people for a visa when she returned to Canada to give a talk/lecture or some paid work. And yes, she presented her Canadian passport.

There's more to it than that. On occasion I have put my earpiece in my ear and had a conversation on the way to the customs hall. When I get to the front I am told in no uncertain terms - remove that. The first time, I showed someone my phone saying I'm not using it, it didn't matter, nothing in your ear while you talk to the customs people. Ditto while you go through security and quite a few other places. It has to be to ensure that we aren't getting directives from elsewhere while conversing with the official folks.

One thing that I've always wondered was why there can't be a line for Canadians and one for all other nationalities? Doing this would let Canadians speed through and not have to wait for foreigners with visa problems, communication difficulties, etc. Many other countries in the world have some sort of system like this set up and it seems to make a lot of sense.

(Note: I haven't been through YYZ Customs in the last year so if this is already in place please ignore the question)

A US-based Canadian citizen who came to handle an installation for us last year was given a prolonged grilling by CBSA in St John's. They also demanded to know where her visa was, and the precise nature of the work she was to perform in her home and native land. Seems almost like a trend.

I'm English. The most any UK immigration officer has ever said to me is, "Welcome back".

antirealist has it nailed.

I have the same experience with my UK passport entering at LHR: "welcome home."

Pre-NEXUS, we would get preposterous grillings including the following:

CBSA: Where have you been?
Me: UK
CBSA: Why?
Me: I had meetings and my wife had some medical appointments
CBSA: What kind of work?
Me: Customer meetings
CBSA: What customers?
Me: [whomever]
CBSA: What doctor did you visit? Why? What for? Have you seen them before? Did they diagnose anything?

There is absolutely NO REASON why a CBSA officer needs to know the answers to ANY of these questions to determine our elibibility for entry into Canada.

Similar grilling go on at the Ambassador Bridge, although in this case, it's all about bloody duty. Countless people I know remark about how there is so much emphasis put on whether someone has a bottle of wine. It seems all about the customs duty. The limits we have right now should be eliminated, or raised to $2000 as Senator Kenny's committee recommended.

For the poster who remarked that it would be good to have separate lines for Canadian citizens and non-Canadian citizens, I would tend to agree. It would speed things greatly for the non-Canadian citizens.

Simon

That happened to me. (Maybe I'm who YVR Cockroach is referring to.)

I suppose we can stop asking questions of Canadian citizens returning. In fact, anyone who lives in Canada should just be waved through. Of course, that means our drug and weapons seizures will drop dramatically.

Welcome home.

Please inform me how the list of customers I visited, the name of the doctor my wife saw, what her medical condition might have been, what diagnosis (if any) she received, etc. have anything to do with drug and weapons seizures, or our eligibility to enter our country.

How does the name of the person the previous poster visited Mexico with have anything to do with his eligibility to enter the country on this occasion?

What do any of these things have to do with anything other than a power trip.

Oh wait, it's to see if people "trip up".

Funny how they don't do this entering Europe.

And please don't tell me that Canada has better inbound security than the UK

Simon

There is a high probability that the type of medication could be seized if it contains an illicit drug in it without a valid prescription from the doctor. Think about it, Simon.

Sanosuke!