Borderlands
What the hell USA?
What is going on in the USA? This is a thought that many of us in Canada are thinking these days. From ICE acting like they are clones of Pinochet era goons, to federal government officials being fired on the advice of a right-wing influencer who is wholly unsuited to have unfettered access to the President. Our southern neighbour seems to be hell bent on joining the list of former and current pariah states that I have no wish to visit.
Growing up just north of the 49th Parallel the USA was the country next door where everything seemed to be better. Their Saturday Morning cartoons seemed to be much better than the Friendly Giant, Chez Michelle and Mr. Dressup that was forced on me by the CBC affiliate CKX TV from Brandon. If the atmospherics were favourable I would be able to get an hour of Deputy Dog or the Pink Panther from WDAZ Channel 8 Devils Lake, Grand Forks. I remember annual fall trips with mom to the clothing store in Rolla to get cheaper back to school clothes, an advantage when our Canadian Dollar was at par. Then there were the trips to North Dakota with mom and dad to buy cattle from breeders to the south. That is where I received the encyclopedia Americana (I think the Johnstons were relieved to be rid of them!) which set me on my path to loving everything historical and annoying my high school history teacher.
When I was in high school and playing football, we’d have an opportunity to play a high school team from just across the line. It was a challenge for us to learn the US rules as it likely was the same for the Dakota kids when they played us. I was really impressed with the school in Belcourt ND. They had special locker rooms for the players, the field was immaculate, and it was fun to play under “The Friday Night Lights!”
Other trips included Minot for the State Fair, Devil’s Lake for hockey in which I saw hockey cheer leaders for the first time, and Rolla for curling or going to supper at the bowling alley. And then there was becoming a real adult and going to “The Bucket” for drinks and pool. That was life along the border.
Back then “Crossing the Line” was no big deal. To me the US Border Agent was (there only seemed to be one) was a kindly old gentleman who’d rarely come out the car. He’d just wave to us as we yelled ‘Goin to the Bucket!”. Our only issue was that we had to be back to Canada by 10pm or it would be a 25 mile detour to the 24 hour port at the International Peace Garden. Funny thing, it was the Canadian Customs agents who were a little more wary. We were always attempting to get something across without paying duty and if you weren’t too blatant, the Canadian Border Services troop let most of it slip. My distant cousin’s farmed right along the border and it was only a barbed wire gate between the US and Canada that we had to close as my 72 Pontiac Ventura full of cases of Old Milwaukee beer drove across the border. You could play Sunday baseball all day drinking that near beer!
Nothing much happened at these small ports of entry besides goofy 20 somethings getting cheap beer across without paying duties. We heard stories of the prohibition years that there was a lot of action along the line as Canada would help feed the insatiable liquor appetite of the puritanical USA. Also, all the real excitement for US Border and Customs was along the Mexico border far to the south. It seemed that anyone posted to the northern border were just like a kind old uncle who wanted to do his duty with no complications. Any newbie with thoughts of making a big name for themselves soon found their way to the south and the cat and mouse game with Mexican Cartels.
This utopia of live and let live disappeared with the collapse of New York’s Twin Towers that clear morning in September 2011.
By that time, I had joined the Royal Canadian Navy and was deployed to the Gulf of Oman during Op Apollo. We were full square behind our US cousins as they sought retribution against the organizations that conceived, financed and carried out the attacks of that day. Prior to our deployment, I had to fly through San Francisco and was shocked to see National Guardsmen stationed, armed and ready throughout the airport. At the time I surmised that this amount of security would be a temporary measure until “The End of Hostilities” but I was sadly wrong. Security at the airports increased to an absurd level as every little threat conceivable was treated as serious and us passengers were almost forced to strip to our skivvies to ensure there were no bombs or weapons on us.
When my family and I went back to Manitoba to visit family and for a trip across the line we noticed a massive increase in security at the little port of entry at Lena MB/St John ND. Younger, stony faced men had replaced the kindly uncles of before. Guns were obvious on the hip as the agents came out to inspect the car and ask questions. Everyone seemed to be on edge. And over time I was having more difficulties crossing the line as my face was linked to other doppelgangers within the US who were decidedly less friendly to the law than I was.
But we were getting used to the new normal and over time some of the craziness of airport security eased as authorities realized the futility and costs of the overbearing inspections. Despite the obstacles, us Canadians were still heading to the states for vacations and spending our dollars down there. Many of us bought homes in the sunshine states to stay the 6 months and beat the winters up north.
Then came Trump 2.0.
Seeing ICE agents raid Home Depot for undocumented immigrants, listening to Defense Secretary Hegseth fire women admirals and black generals because of DEI, reading about Linda Loomer deep dive into loyalty tests of GOP members, and watching Trump, sitting in a re-decorated Oval Office that would make an Ottoman Brothel owner blush ramble on incoherently about everything and nothing has made me and many Canadians vow not to travel to the US until this insanity has ended. Now hearing the news that more troops will be deployed to Chicago to “enforce” the Presidential decree on stopping crime, the hopeful move to sanity seems to be a bridge too far right now.
