Except if your country visited was Afghanistan, and your last name was Khadr, CBSA would want to be sure you had access to the best quality of care here in Canada, and they would want to know medical details so that they could forward them quickly to the medical system here to enable you to get a jumpstart on your free medical care! ;)

Does this happen? (Computer randomly forces a secondary?) I always thought it was completely up to the discretion of the front-line CBSA guy / gal.

My experiences exactly. 99% of the time when entering a foreign country I hardly ever get asked even a single question. My last visit to GVA in March I presented my passport to the officer and he didn't even open it, he noticed it was a CDN passport and waved me through. Almost all of my experiences with the US folks are very pleasant.

And then there is the return to Canada, where without fail returning Canadians are meant to feel as criminals and are interrogated with ridiculous questions. The vast majority of my trips outside of Canada I do not bring anything back and have nothing to declare but have learned that it is better to lie and put some sort of a value in the box on the form because I am tired of not being believed by the idiot behind the desk. I was sent to a secondary about 2 years ago because of this, "Who goe's to England and doesn't buy anything?". Now I just reply I bought a couple of shirts which seems to keep them happy.

I cross enough that I know who to look for here in Calgary, there are 2 gentleman who are always professional, sometimes even pleasant who I keep an eye out for.

It's not about establishing re-admissibility, I'm assuming that medical questions posed could be for any of the following reasons:

1.) To determine if health canada should be contacted.
2.) To determine whether or not he/she should offer a medical team right away.
3.) To determine whether medication being imported is admissible or not.
4.) To determine whether such medical issues have been brought about by the injestion of certain narcotics or narcotic-filled pellets.
5.) To determine a number of other issues that I havn't come up with in my little post here.

Apparently not in this case. We told him it was none of his business and he moved on.

Chances are, like most other posters have experienced, he was fishing, nosy, or trying to "see something" in our responses.

Simon,

Thats why we have secondary. He could have just marked the card and sent you both to secondary. :D Have a good day, Simon.

Sanosuke!

Hello again.
Now this comment from CSBSguy sums up what many returning citizens experience. The CSBA attitude is that the MAJORITY of Canadian citizens are actively engaged in any number of nefarious activities - its a wonder that all returning travellers are not just bundled off to a concentration camp as a matter of course since we are all apparently on the verge of committing any number of heinous crimes, judging by this attitude.

Unless CSBA have some other independent way of suspecting a traveller, you should not be asking all your questions otherwise it is "fishing" and is an insult to innocent citizens. Of course, we are all intimidated to complain to the agent since we will then be detained for a few hours and every piece of luggage searched because we had the temerity to speak up. You have x-ray machines, explosive sniffers, dogs, live cameras - use those and if nothing triggers then just acknowledge that most of your FELLOW CITIZENS are honest and law-abiding and let them through. I always cringe when the CSBA person says 'Welcome back" because in Canada unlike other countries, this is then followed by the "Interrogation" - this is not a police state, yet! Just explain one thing when you reply, why are Canadian customs so different than other countries for its returning citizens?

By the sounds of it, Canadian citizens are carrying more "drugs and weapons" into their countries than those of other citizens.

Or they are just all getting away with it, while we are being protected much better. From ourselves.

Simon

Could be. Please recount your experience.

I wonder if these CBSA bots bother to look at the passport.

CBSA is not going to change any time soon.

Anyone that is not part of NEXUS is simply asking for trouble and unnecessary stress. The NEXUS machine has yet to ask me a question that I felt was inappropriate.

If someone asked me a question that I felt was not appropriate I would say so in a polite and respectful way and ask why they felt they needed the information. If I still disagreed, I would ask for a supervisor.

YYZ T1 are great. majority are middle aged and experienced, but the students have extreme attitude.

YVR is full of young and extremely cocky prima-donnas, demonstrated by wearing slash-proof gloves when assigned to the decleration card collecting task, or by constantly getting up and walking away from PIL in the middle of flights. ... do these kids think they are? but otherwise OK

YYC either great or awful. There's such a huge disparity between chilled out male BSOs and extremely aggressive female BSOs.

YWG is full of old agents months away from retirement, either burned out omega males or feisty alpha females.

iPIL, standing for Integrated Primary Inspection Line is an awful piece of software that the officer at primary uses. it compares the name on the passport to customs and immigration lookout lists, most of these lists which contain poorly documented or extremely outdated names. So if you're Bobby Clark and B Clark had 5kg of cocaine seized through the mail stream in 1980, you'd run into a situation of false or missed positive. this god awful software does in fact summon forced random inspections and the officer at PIL will have no choice but to hit the "refer" button.

you have different dynamics. the EU's imm philosophy is, well, relaxed, towards canadians.

then you have the US where you have officers who work for CBP as a CAREER, unlike CBSA where it's a step up for a 20-something to a job with the mounties. so you'll inevitably get more trained and experienced officers with CBP, and a trained and experience officer realizes that 99% of the people they see are compliant and not a threat.
and then you deal with CBP officers at a pre-clearance, which is GRAVY for the CBP officers because they don't need to carry anything on their belt (no guns, no cuffs, nothing, except maybe the remote car starter when it's -40c), they don't have to do arrests because CBSA or the police will do that for them. they also get paid VERY well (almost double their salary working back home) because they're considered government agents performing government tasks abroad, so therefore, they get "danger pay" and "living expense" pay. so combine the additional pay with fewer tasks, not to mention a flight schedule that is very predictable, and the officers who get selected for that are very senior and very well respected, you will get CBP officers who not only experienced and professional, but in a good mood.

then CBSA officers work for an agency that is flawed at so many levels, with co-workers who were originally hired to count heads of cattle or sit behind a window doing paperwork, with tons of new recruits, and a corporate culture of "don't rock the boat, do as you are told, don't ask questions, don't try doing anything differently, and everything will be fine", combined with a very poor public image (people see rev canada in a higher light than our border law enforcers according to that globe & mail survey a year ago or so), you have officials here who are idiots.

Interesting, you find that granting a foreign government the right to your fingerprints and background information less intrusive than a verbal question from a BSO? I prefer the "know your rights" thing a lot more than the "how is that appropriate?" line.

Remember, you are ENTITLED admittance into Canada without obstruction if you are a Canadian citizen and they have no reasonable doubt that you are Canadian. They cannot restrict that RIGHT from you. You can enter into Canada with nothing more than a "I am a Canadian citizen, I would like to seek re-admittance here". However, your GOODS are subject to search under ANY circumstances. They do not need cause or ANYTHING. (in fact, the RCMP uses that government right to get BSOs to perform intelligence gathering on suspected criminals/organized crime members/etc.) So remember that when you are at primary and secondary. They can't ask you anything about your-self, but they certainly can ask you about your-stuff. It still doesn't mean you have to answer, but answering may mitigate enforcement action on their part. However, they can't ask you what you do for a living, who pays your bills, how much income you earn, or if you have a criminal record under any circumstances (although you will most likely "be in the system" for the latter). If you're asked those questions, get the badge number and report it to the superintendent, chief, and your MP. That's a huge violation of your rights. A police officer that encounters you on the street has no right to ask you those questions, and a BSO definitely does not either.

Sometimes the personal stuff will bridge into the goods stuff, so feel free to ask for clarification as to why they need that information. They could be guising it as a customs question when really they are going to write it down and send it to CSIS & the RCMP as per their request (or the BSO can fire it off to the CBSA intelligence division at their own choosing). Your goods are 0 or 1, legal or illegal, they don't need you to tell them where you got it or how you got it. Only answer questions pertaining to your goods if it will mitigate yourself from sanctioning (eg. "I previously imported these jeans" "I acquired this lawfully from a gift shop"). Majority of customs seizures in Canada are made because the officer managed to twist the arm of the client enough to make that client confess. If they need to twist your arm, it's because they lack proof (normally, it's the receipt). If they want to seize stuff from you, they wouldn't need your testimony. If you're complaint, you don't need to say anything, although saying "I was in SFO on a 4 day vacation with the wife and I got this coffee from the food store" is of a much greater cost-benefit-ratio than saying "f-you, here's my luggage, i'll be sitting over there reading chateline", as much as you are legally entitled to do it.

Remember, your duty under the law is to present your self in order to verify your identity. Once there is no question that you are in fact the person named on that document and that you are in fact a Canadian citizen, your only duty from therein is to present your goods. PRESENT your goods, not PRESENT AND EXPLAIN your goods. In theory, you can leave your bags at secondary for them to search and you can walk out the port if you so choose. They can't stop you unless they have concerns about goods on or about your body. As a Canadian, you are only accountable in helping the BSO verify your identity and citizenship and presenting your goods.

So join Canpass only then since you love spending quality time in person with US CBP.

As the OP posted section 11(1) of the Customs Act provides for you to "answer truthfully any questions asked by the officer in the performance of his or her duties under this or any other Act of Parliament.

And I think administering the following Acts allows some leeway with the questions they can ask.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act
Canada Agricultural Products Act
Citizenship Act
Criminal Code
Customs Act
Customs Tariff
Excise Act
Excise Act, 2001
Export and Import Permits Act
Feeds Act
Fertilizers Act
Fish Inspection Act
Food and Drugs Act
Health of Animals Act
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
Meat Inspection Act
Plant Protection Act
Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act
Seeds Act
Special Import Measures Act

I would say I get asked who I work for or what I do for a living 50% of the time returning to Canada, unless my family is with me. Maybe CBSA guy can verify your information?