Canadian Bribes

Ok, finally a post about my Canadian vacation (it's been a busy week). I'm going to start off with our first great adventure; Getting Into Canada.

There were 7 of us on this trip. Lacey (sister), Chad (her husband), KC (a friend), Ed (Uncle), Candy (Aunt), Steve (friend). We all got ourselves to Canada in different ways; some drove from Utah, Wyoming, or Washington, and some flew. We all met up at the US - Canada border; and it was at the US - Canada border that we would spend the next few hours (photo to the left me standing in line with a few other criminals clutching their crack cocaine filled teddy bears).

None of us (three cars of people) made it through the checkpoint, we were all asked to go inside. Once inside we were asked to hand over our keys and passports and were asked a bunch of questions over and over again. I've heard stories of this happening to everyone who's ever tried to cross the border in VW Van, but I've never had problems at a border crossing. I think we were suspicious for three reasons:

1. None of us really knew how to explain where we were going; the put-in to this river is literally in the middle of nowhere!
2. We had a bunch of river gear and KC is a professional river guide so they thought he might be making money off us.
3. We were all a little slap happy; you know how you get when you don't get much sleep and your with friends you haven't seen in awhile; apparently in Canada if your too happy that means your acting "suspect." (example: photo below KC and I practice our criminal stance).

They searched one or two of our vehicles (photo below) and ran all our passports through extensive background searches; we sat around, stood around, stood around some more, answered more questions and finally they gave everyone back their passports...expect for two. Those two were called to the desk and asked about some "issues" they had on their "record." Trip member G's issue was over 25 years ago so G got off BUT trip member X had a class B misdemeanor from 12 years ago and was apparently not suppose to be let in the country. BUT, for a fee they might let him in. You can imagine our reaction when X told us this and the whole group just gasped and immediately we all started to complain at once. We started telling X not to pay the money that we would go somewhere else when really ornery desk woman (she was truly the orneriest woman I have ever encountered) immediately told us to STOP and called the eldest members of the group to come to the desk for a little talking to. She explained to them that we can't act like that (apparently in Canada you can't be appalled by stupid laws) and that she didn't HAVE to to offer us this but for a fee she would grant X with a permit to enter the country. For a fee! If your a criminal you can get into Canada for a fee...and they don't have to offer that to everyone! Can you imagine what it would cost if you had a full on felony!

After we all calmed down X decided to pay the $200 fee so that we could get out of there and on with the trip. X was granted a "permit" and we left. Apparently X's passport is now flagged and X will have to pay a fee (aka bribe) (if they decide they want to "let" X pay the bribe) OR X can go to an embassy and pay a fee to be "rehabilitated." The rehabilitation fee can range between $200 and $2,000 but after you pay it you can come and go as you please; as if paying a large sum of money makes you any less of a menace...and all this for a Class B Misdemeanor 12 years ago. Anyway, it made for great conversation for the rest of the trip.