As another "paranoid" Canadian, I wonder if any US citizens has ever had the "pleasure" of running afoul of a paranoid Border Patrol or INS officer when you're not a US citizen. Obviously not: you're on home turf so to speak. If you want _real_ paranoia try to enter the USA even for an afternoon's visit without what the US Officials consider proper reason or identification (which requirements mostly depend, I think, on from what side of the bed the official got up. The US is really paranoid about people entering the USA from ANYWHERE, not just the Eastern Bloc (in the days of the Cold War) or from the third world. Believe me: I was born in Canada, have lived almost my entire life here, and I have had some rough rides at border crossings. Certainly, 99% of the time the INS and US Customs could not be more helpful, but the other 1% makes up for it. The US is paranoid about drugs and immigration; Canada is paranoid about fire-arms. There's a good reason for both attitudes. C'est la vie. > >Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 16:01:15 -0800 >From: "Murray Birch" <mbirch@wei.org> >Subject: TWL: Importing Weapons into Canada > >Message to the disgruntled Americans: > >As a little country next to a huge country, we Canadians find it necessary >occasionally to somehow prove we are different. This can be difficult >sometimes because we pretty much watch the same TV, wear the same clothes >and both think the British speak a funny kind of English. I guess it is just >some kind of identity problem we have. > >The gun issue is just one of those areas we try to be different. I don't >think Garrett was too wrong when he said we were paranoid. Unfortunately, >our Customs laws have picked up on that paranoia and we also have no >shortage of power-crazed agents, either.

Donald: I was the one who told the story of bringing the shotgun into Canada and that story elicited the "paranoid" response. I wanted to say that I did not view the reaction of the lady at Canadian Customs as paranoid and I clearly felt that I was wrong by bringing the shotgun to Canada. I am a person who believes in obey the law and also believe "when in Rome do as the Romans do". I have visited Canada on many previous occasions and I guess I was lulled into the fact that most things in Canada are just like the US. I am sure that you feel the same way when you visit the US and sometimes we forget that we are visiting a foreign country. My previous visits to Canada and the latest one up the Rideau, down the Ottawa and up and down the St Lawrence were great. On the way down the Ottawa River we decided that we wanted to backtrack up the St Lawrence to see the Thousand Islands. Since this was a spur of the moment thing we asked a Canadian Boater who was watching us fuel where we could buy charts. He asked what area and said he would be right back. He appeared from his boat with 10 new big Canadian charts, gave them to us and asked us to mail them back at the end of our trip. We were treated extraordinarily well by everyone during our month in Canada. I did not mean to unintentionally start a thread that in any way implied that anyone in Canada is paranoid. It is your country and you get to decide how you want to do things. As a visitor it is my obligation to find out the rules and abide by them. I think it only natural to focus on the things we do differently. I am looking forward to my next trip to Canada and to exploring Georgian Bay. Frank Burrows