Arrival back into Canada - Treated like a criminal.

 I would like to start this post by saying that not all Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers are unpleasant.  Unfortunately this would not be the case on the day we returned.  These events happened at the end of July of 2020, in the midst of the COVID 19 global pandemic.  

We fully expected to be asked to quarantine upon our arrival, which Karen and I were ready to do.  Karen had even filled in all the require re-entry information on the phone app that we were supposed to use and the CBSA officer would have to give us a "token" that we would enter on the app.  So, how did it go?  Not terribly well.  

To start with we stopped at a grocery store to stock up on fresh food so that we would not need to have groceries delivered right away on our arrival.  We drove up to the Canadian border and, there was no line up or waiting as the border had been closed for 5 months already.  The measures put in place by the government had been lacking and haphazard in so many ways.  Rules would change from month to month, without any consistency.  One thing that was for sure, we were read the Quarantine Act, we were told that we would be severely fined and imprisoned for any violations, we were asked about our travel and the officer even asked if Tank was a Canadian or US dog.  Our passports were then seized and our vehicle searched, the trailer searched and well we even had them going through our groceries which ended up in broken eggs in our cooler (that we discovered when unpacked upon arrival at home).

It would seem that the unlimited powers afforded to CBSA officers has gone unchecked, to the point where an individual officer can make a decision that truly violates your rights as a citizen.  Someone should remind these short sighted thugs, that they are actually ambassadors to the country.  As the first interaction that most will have with Canadian authorities, taking a sledge hammer approach, threatening detention and fines, and simply being unpleasant does not make one feel welcome.  I've watched a comic Rob Bebenek, comment on Canadians and about how "nice" we are up here....it's worth watching that there is a great deal of truth regarding his comment about American Border Officers being moronic, well I think his comment applies to Canadian officers as well now.  Somewhere along the way, these dingdongs feel that it is their duty to treat everyone who comes across their booth as a criminal, and that is even with having undergone the Nexus process....so much for Trusted Traveler.  

I have never felt so unwelcome as I did that day.  Since then, border restrictions have now tightened and there is still no clear direction or end in sight.  In fact the government does not even have a plan to return to normal travel between Canada and the US.  It would seem that the measures that should have been in place back in March of 2020 which would have slowed the progress of the virus here are being applied presently after the fact.  Without a clear end in sight, we have no idea when we will be back on Tropical Horizons II.

Presently we are optimistic that we will be able to bring Tropical Horizons II up to Trent Port Marina some time this summer in order to move aboard and start our new adventure.