Canadian and U.S. citizens share a rich history...of weird and failed smugglings.
TALES FROM THE BORDER CROSSINGS
Canadians and Americans share a large border, and they generally traverse it with élan. But the Web is filled with funny stories of folks being questioned at the Canada-U.S. border with suitcases full of toilet paper, Cuban cigars, and more. Some of the rules controlling what you can bring into America from Canada are downright wacky.
RUN FOR THE BORDER
People on the north side of Canusa Avenue are Canadian and live in Stanstead, Quebec. People across the street on the southern side are American and live in Derby Line, Vermont. This is the only part of the Canada–United States border that runs directly down a street, appropriately named Canusa for Canada and USA. Whenever residents on the American side pull out of their driveways, they are officially in Canada, and they must report to border post, conveniently located on the corner. There are security cameras on light poles to help patrol the area. Citizens on both sides of the street once passed more freely into each other’s country, but after 9-11, security tightened in the area.
FOR WHEN YOU JUST CAN’T DECIDE
In addition to Canusa Avenue being a security concern, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the United States Border Patrol keep a watchful eye on the nearby Haskell Free Library and Opera House. The building is located on Church Street in Rock Island, Quebec, and on Derby Line in Rock Island, Vermont. Straddling the border between the two countries, the building has black tape running across the reading room and beneath the opera house seats, marking Canada from the States. Visitors like jumping back and forth between the two countries or having one foot in Canada and the other in the United States—all inside a library. The parking lot is in Canada, but the main entrance is in the States. If you walk to the checkout desk to take out a book, you’ll be back in Canada. You can sit on the U.S. side of the audience and watch the performers on stage in Canada.
Bill and Hillary Clinton named their daughter after Joni Mitchell’s “Chelsea Morning.”
The building was constructed by American sawmill owner Carlos Haskell and his Canadian wife Martha Stewart Haskell. They wanted Canadians and Americans to have equal access to the library and opera house ...so they built it on both borders.
MOON THE BALLOON
In Sarnia in Ontario, an estimated 200 people took a stand in favor of personal privacy and against public surveillance with a mass dropping of their drawers. In the summer of 2009, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, carrying a $1 million surveillance camera on the border, tested a spy balloon outside of Sarnia, Ontario. The camera was sensitive enough to read the name of a ship from about 14 kilometers (almost 9 miles) away. The 15-meter-long (about 49 feet) Aerostat balloon and camera were being tested on Sarnia’s waterfront, where it would scan many homes and private businesses. Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley and many citizens called the balloon an invasion of Canadian privacy. In protest, 200 people gathered in Centennial Park on August 15 on the St. Clair River. At about 5 p.m., protestors lined up, and upon the announcer’s count of three, they all mooned the balloon. Unfortunately, the balloon wasn’t in the sky that day, much to the dismay of the cheeky protestors. Protestors still hoped their message came across.
Martin said he wanted to make it clear to the United States that Sarnia residents do not like being watched.
SHELL-SHOCKED
In Halifax Harbour, antiterror officials installed a 1.6-kilometer (1-mile) orange security fence to protect Navy ships against terrorist attacks. The military poured about $3.5 million into the superstructure, which was designed to thwart small boats loaded with explosives from making any sort of strategic attack on the Royal Navy. The floating barrier was thought to be almost impenetrable. Unfortunately, military commanders didn’t count on a hidden menace. Mussels and kelp weighed down the structure, rendering it useless. The fence was dismantled.
Baffin Island is more than twice the size Great Britain.