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17,100 Posts
Background:
I'm a frequent business traveler. In addition to trips all over the globe, I visit the USA often, at least once or twice a month.
About ten years ago, while crossing back into Canada I began getting strange questions such as:
Have you ever lived in Montreal? No.
Have you ever been charged with a criminal offence? No.
Are you sure?......Blank stare. Yes, pretty sure I’d remember that.
Soon thereafter I started getting sent to secondary and they would ask similar questions, sometimes repeatedly.
I learned that there is a person with the same first and last name and the same birthdate and year as me with a VERY lengthy criminal history.
Someone in my office found a newspaper clipping which explained some of the background. They had to let this guy out of prison on humanitarian grounds as the facility could not accommodate his 430 pound frame.
So, because I knew this case of mistaken identity would likely continue to cause me problems I decided to apply for a Nexus card.
Getting a Nexus requires interviews and background checks by both US and Canadian customs, including scans of your iris.
I figured deliberately submitting myself to that scrutiny would put the mistaken identity issue to rest once and for all.
WRONG!!!!
As long as I use the Nexus lanes, no problem, but when traveling with someone who does NOT have Nexus, you have to use the normal lanes. You still use the Nexus card but they obviously have different information systems.
Here’s the shocking part:
In August I was returning to Canada with my boss (a Director of our company) and a guest from Brazil, crossing at Detroit / Windsor. Both of my guests were Japanese and neither speaks English very well.
The officer at the gate obviously saw the other person's information on her screen and closed the window.
That told me we were likely heading to secondary inspection (a bit of an inconvenience but not the end of the world).
So we drive over to the secondary and WTF!!! We were ambushed (SWATTED) by five armed (guns drawn) officers one of which began screaming at the car. DRIVER!!! HANDS ON THE WHEEL!!! and other commands they struggled to understand.
They then took my guests one by one, forced them to lie on their stomachs on the ground, handcuffed them and led them away (basically terrified).
Then they did the same to me.
As this was the first and only time in my life (and for my guests also) I have been in handcuffs and detained at gun point....well you can imaging it was not a happy experience. In fact it was pretty traumatic.
My Countermeasure:
I contacted our MP who in turn contacted Minister Ralph Goodale. Minister Goodale sent a letter (I have a copy) to our Customs officials.
I also visited our police department and obtained a record including my fingerprints that indicate that as of August, 2018 they had absolutely no record of my existence (yup, a total choir boy).
So, now anytime I travel I carry a file folder about an inch thick with the police report, the letter from Minister Goodale and numerous newspaper clippings about my evil twin.
I hand them that plus my Nexus and watch their eyes widen as they read.
So far this has worked perfectly.
The folder is labeled “ Not a criminal, please read”.
Crazy eh?
I'm a frequent business traveler. In addition to trips all over the globe, I visit the USA often, at least once or twice a month.
About ten years ago, while crossing back into Canada I began getting strange questions such as:
Have you ever lived in Montreal? No.
Have you ever been charged with a criminal offence? No.
Are you sure?......Blank stare. Yes, pretty sure I’d remember that.
Soon thereafter I started getting sent to secondary and they would ask similar questions, sometimes repeatedly.
I learned that there is a person with the same first and last name and the same birthdate and year as me with a VERY lengthy criminal history.
Someone in my office found a newspaper clipping which explained some of the background. They had to let this guy out of prison on humanitarian grounds as the facility could not accommodate his 430 pound frame.
So, because I knew this case of mistaken identity would likely continue to cause me problems I decided to apply for a Nexus card.
Getting a Nexus requires interviews and background checks by both US and Canadian customs, including scans of your iris.
I figured deliberately submitting myself to that scrutiny would put the mistaken identity issue to rest once and for all.
WRONG!!!!
As long as I use the Nexus lanes, no problem, but when traveling with someone who does NOT have Nexus, you have to use the normal lanes. You still use the Nexus card but they obviously have different information systems.
Here’s the shocking part:
In August I was returning to Canada with my boss (a Director of our company) and a guest from Brazil, crossing at Detroit / Windsor. Both of my guests were Japanese and neither speaks English very well.
The officer at the gate obviously saw the other person's information on her screen and closed the window.
That told me we were likely heading to secondary inspection (a bit of an inconvenience but not the end of the world).
So we drive over to the secondary and WTF!!! We were ambushed (SWATTED) by five armed (guns drawn) officers one of which began screaming at the car. DRIVER!!! HANDS ON THE WHEEL!!! and other commands they struggled to understand.
They then took my guests one by one, forced them to lie on their stomachs on the ground, handcuffed them and led them away (basically terrified).
Then they did the same to me.
As this was the first and only time in my life (and for my guests also) I have been in handcuffs and detained at gun point....well you can imaging it was not a happy experience. In fact it was pretty traumatic.
My Countermeasure:
I contacted our MP who in turn contacted Minister Ralph Goodale. Minister Goodale sent a letter (I have a copy) to our Customs officials.
I also visited our police department and obtained a record including my fingerprints that indicate that as of August, 2018 they had absolutely no record of my existence (yup, a total choir boy).
So, now anytime I travel I carry a file folder about an inch thick with the police report, the letter from Minister Goodale and numerous newspaper clippings about my evil twin.
I hand them that plus my Nexus and watch their eyes widen as they read.
So far this has worked perfectly.
The folder is labeled “ Not a criminal, please read”.
Crazy eh?
