The Canadian government is looking at ways to ease border-crossing restrictions on Americans with convictions for driving under the influence, after getting complaints that border officers are turning away too many people.
Documents obtained under access-to-information laws reveal that Canadian tourism officials have been lobbying the government in recent months to relax the rules because of concerns that tourism — particularly fishing and hunting industries — could be taking a hit.
In a briefing note to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews in January, Canada Border Services Agency president Luc Portelance wrote that during a meeting with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney concerns were raised that border officers were applying the law “arbitrarily” and showing a “lack of courtesy.”
Currently, U.S. citizens with DUI convictions can enter Canada only if certain conditions are met. One way they can gain entry is by way of “deemed rehabilitation,” meaning that at least 10 years have passed since they completed their sentence and no other crimes have been committed in that time.
If at least five years have passed since completion of a sentence, a person can apply to a Canadian visa office for entry under “individual rehabilitation,” but such applications can take more than a year to process.
The last option is to apply for a temporary resident permit that allows a person to be in the country for a specific time frame. These permits are handed out only in “exceptional” cases.
Canada tends to treat DUI convictions more harshly than the U.S. does, Portelance wrote in the memo. He indicated, however, that CBSA and Citizenship and Immigration Canada were reviewing different options to relax some of the restrictions and “reduce bilateral irritants with the U.S.”
For instance, they are considering introducing a no-fee waiver that would “give officers an additional tool to facilitate the entry of foreign nationals with less serious inadmissibilities, including some DUI cases.”
They are also looking at ways to improve communication with American travellers “caught off-guard by their inadmissibility” and to simplify relief options for those travellers. There could also be a new provision that would allow the requirement for a temporary resident permit to be waived on a case-by-case basis.
Luc Nadon, a CBSA spokesman, said Friday that the proposed changes are still under review.
He said the agency is working to update its operations manual and training of officers to improve consistency in how officers apply the law.
Statistics provided by the agency show that the number of Americans denied entry on the basis of criminality has steadily fallen over the years, from 11,726 in 2005 to 6,948 in 2010.
David Goldstein, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, said Friday he is encouraged the government is talking about loosening some of the rules. Goldstein said the number of American tourists who spent at least one night Canada has steadily fallen from 15 million in 2002 to 11.7 million in 2010.
He cited data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization, which show that Canada’s ranking in the world in terms of international tourist arrivals dropped from seventh place in 2002 to 15th place in 2010.
Goldstein stressed that he is not advocating for the borders to be wide open to criminals, but “there’s a healthy balance that needs to be applied.”
“It’s easier to get a box of cherries from California to Canada than to get a Californian to Canada,” he said. “We have been asking the government for flexibility, a more realistic interpretation of some of these rules.”
Goldstein said it’s not just outdoor enthusiasts who are being turned away for long-ago DUI convictions, but businesspeople who are coming to Canada to attend conferences.
U.S. media outlets over the years have documented many cases of frustrated Americans being turned away from the border.
In May, the Bucks County Courier Times in Pennsylvania wrote about Michael Edwards, a man who set off on a road trip to Alaska with his 18-year-old son, who was reporting for duty with the U.S. Air Force.
But because Edwards had more than one DUI conviction — the last one being in 1996 — he was forced to return home, leaving his son to make the rest of the trip alone.
“It was the ultimate humiliation,” Edwards told the newspaper. “If I had committed murder, I could see that. Are you kidding me? What was I going to do while passing through their country for a few days?”
