#canadian border services agency

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Verigin Freed Upon Order of Halifax Judge,” Kingston Whig-Standard. February 25, 1933. Page 1. ---- Doukhobor Leader Released From Custody at Halifax --- Justice Mellish Holds That Doukhobor Leader Cannot Be Deported or Held Imprisoned for Deport. --- "JUSTICE IN CANADA" --- Verigin Thanks God for Canada's Action His Trouble Now Over Non-Payment of Legal Fees. ---- HALIFAX, Feb. 25 - Peter Verigin, Doukhobor leader, was released from custody here today by order of Mr. Justice Humphrey Mellish, ending a month-long legal action to prevent his deportation from Canada,

He was immediately re-arrested on a charge at the instance of J. J. Power, KC, claiming non-payment of legal fees, and was taken to the sheriffs office, where it was understood the difficulty would be straightened out in short order.

"I thank God not so much that I am happy for my release, but that Canada has shown justice," said the Doukhobor chieftain as he left the courtroom. "I am encouraged there la justice in Canada." 

"At the outset I was and still am of the opinion that the prisoner cannot be deported or held imprisoned for deportation for what : think is a very obvious reason," said Mr. Justice Mellish's decision, "that his sentence or term of imprisonment has not expired within the meaning of the above section 4 of the Immigration Act. Nothing that has happened for the purpose of accelerating his removal from the country can in my opinion have that effect. On this ground alone 1 think the prisoner is entitled to be discharged" 

His Lordship then went on to consider the case more fully,

Unconditional Pardon Verigin's eighteen months sentence for perjury had been commuteed after he served half that seatence. "It is contended," said the judgment, "that the document is a conditional pardon. The right of the Crown to grant a pardon subject to conditions to undoubted. But they must be lawful conditions and not repugnant to the pardon itself."

The decision concluded: "If the prisoner has been pardoned and I do not think he could be discharged from prison except in exercise of the power of pardon, he cannot in my opinion be deported. Freedom from deportation is incident to the pardon, because deportation was incident to the imprisonment. In any case, the prisoner is I think unlawfully detained for deportation and must be discharged."

It was not immediately apparent what the elderly leader of the Christian Communities of Universal Brotherhood would do, but it was expected he would leave Halifax before long, and it is understood he wants to move from Canada but not to Russia. the country of his birth, where he would have been sent under the terms of the deportation order.

OTTAWA COMMENT OTTAWA, Feb, 25-  "So far as the Department of Immigration is concerned, Peter Veregin is a free man." it was stated here A. L. Jolliffe. Commmisioner of Immigration, when advised this morning of the outcome of the Doukhobor leader's legal action. 

Hon. Wesley A. Gordon. Minister of Immigration, will review the judgement and ascertain what, if any, action will be taken as a consequence.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The Canada Border Services Agency has denied entry to dozens of senior Iranian regime officials and is investigating about 100 people with status in Canada for potential ties to Tehran. The agency also has referred the cases of nine individuals with status in Canada to the Immigration and Refugee Board to determine their admissibility to Canada. The denials at the border and the investigations stem from a measure the Liberal government adopted last year in the midst of widespread protests in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman. Amini died while in the custody of Iran's "morality police."

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[justinspoliticalcorner]

The Guardian:

Donald Trump said on Monday he would sign an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on all products coming in to the United States from Mexico and Canada, and additional tariffs on China.

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump said the tariffs would remain in place until the two countries clamp down on drugs, particularly fentanyl, and migrants crossing the border illegally. In a follow-up post, Trump announced that the US “will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America”. He said that the reason for the additional tariff was China’s failure to curb the number of drugs entering the US. China is a major producer of precursor chemicals that are acquired by drug cartels, including in Mexico, to manufacture fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid. “I have had many talks with China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl, being sent into the United States – But to no avail … Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America.” In response, China warned that “no one will win a trade war”.

Liu Pengyu, a Chinese embassy spokesperson, said China had taken steps to combat drug trafficking after an agreement was reached last year between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. “The Chinese side has notified the US side of the progress made in US-related law enforcement operations against narcotics,” he said in a statement. “All these prove that the idea of China knowingly allowing fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States runs completely counter to facts and reality.” Canada’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, released a statement on Monday evening saying that the country places the highest priority on border security and the integrity of its shared border with the US. Trump and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau spoke on Monday night about trade and border security, Reuters reported, citing a Canadian source directly familiar with the situation. Freeland’s statement did not mention the tariffs directly. It also said that the Canada Border Services Agency, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and US Customs and Border protection “work together every single day to to disrupt the scourge of fentanyl coming from China and other countries.”

[...] A tariff is a tax placed on goods when they cross national borders. Import tariffs such as those proposed by Trump can have the effect of protecting domestic industries from foreign competition while also generating tax revenue for the government. But economists widely consider them an inefficient tool that typically leaves consumers and taxpayers bearing the brunt of higher costs.

Donald Trump vows to enact economy-crushing 25% tariffs on fellow USMCA members Mexico and Canada, and much steeper tariffs on China.

See Also:

HuffPost: Trump Says U.S. Will Impose Massive Tariffs On Mexico, Canada And China From Day 1

[ocean-sailor]

Trump to pause tariffs for '30 days' after speaking with Trudeau.

Canadians aren't stupid. This is not about migrants (<1% in 2024) or fentanyl (also <1% in 2024) crossing the Canadian border into the USA. Goods/people that cross this border into the USA is controlled by US Border Services. The Canada Border Services Agency controls what comes into Canada.

Trump also threatened Canada's sovereignty again. It will be a cold day in hell before Canada becomes the 51st state.

Trump wants Canada's resources - water, energy, minerals, etc. without trade negotiations and contractual obligations with a foreign country and the tax revenue and control it would bring.

Trump wants access to our banking system - stronger and more highly regulated than the USA system. Note Canada's banks did not fall in 2008 when the USA system nearly collapsed the world economy.

Trump wants to control Canada's Arctic Passage. As climate change melts northern ice, this area becomes a new and shorter, more economical trade route.

This is about money and power for Trump - not the American people.

To learn more about the country of Canada 🇨🇦

[mariacallous]

Ukrainian-Canadian filmmakers pulled their pro-Ukrainian film "Intercepted" from screening at the Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) after learning that it would be featured in a lineup alongside the controversial "Russians at War" documentary, the Canadian media outlet Windsor Star reported on Oct. 26.

Canadian-Russian director Anastasia Trofimova's documentary Russians at War has faced criticism for what many perceive as an attempt to whitewash Russian soldiers involved in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Earlier in her career, Trofimova worked for Russia Today, a Kremlin-backed propaganda outlet.

The documentary has been criticized for lacking a concrete counter-narrative to Russian propaganda, failing to address documented Russian war crimes, and does not offer a definitive critique of Putin's regime.

The movie was brought into the spotlight when it appeared on the official list of screenings at the prestigious Venice and Toronto film festivals.

According to the Windsor Star, Intercepted — a film that chronicles the work of Ukrainian intelligence agencies as it intercepts calls from Russian soldiers to family and friend — pulled out of the Canadian-based WIFF ahead of its opening night screening.

The decision to pull out comes amid widespread protest among Canada's large Ukrainian-Canadian diaspora.

Following protest, organizers at the Toronto International Film Festival decided to pull the film from the schedule, citing security concerns, but later decided to hold a special screening for the film after the end of the festival in September, drawing widespread criticism.

Controversy further spread as it was revealed the Russians at War film received $340,000 from the Canada Media Fund. Canadian government officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, have strongly criticized the use of public funds to support a controversial documentary that portrays Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

Despite protest from local members of the Ukrainian-Canadian diaspora, WIFF has not removed Russians at War from the festival's lineup — at odds with decisions made earlier this month at film festivals in Athens and Zurich to drop the film.

The director of Intercepted, Oksana Karpovych, could not be immediately reached by the Windsor Star for comment.

On Oct. 7, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) began investigating Trofimova on the charges of justifying and recognizing the legitimacy of Russia's aggression against Ukraine and illegally crossing Ukraine's internationally recognized borders when filming in the Russian-occupied territories.

[english-lessons-bolzano]

CANADIAN ENGLISH

North American English is the most generalized variety of the English language as spoken in the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar of American English and Canadian English, the two spoken varieties are often grouped together under a single category.

Many times British, American and Canadian people cannot distinguish when someone is speaking if they are American or Canadian.

This is because Canada borders both the United States and Alaska.

Canadian Spelling

As in most matters, Canadian spelling is somewhere on that ill-defined continuum between British and American practices. Also as in most matters, Canadian spelling is a little more flexible than either British or American spelling. While, in general, it is closer to the British, the American variant is sometimes preferred, and often either would be considered acceptable (although the British is still usually considered “more correct”).

It can even be argued that there is a regional bias within Canada: in general terms, Ontario, British Columbia and Newfoundland are usually closer to the British usage, and Alberta and the Prairie provinces closer to the American.

Throughout part of the 20th century, some Canadian newspapers adopted American spellings,for example, color as opposed to the British-based colour. Some of the most substantial historical spelling data can be found in Dollinger (2010)and Grue (2013) The use of such spellings was the long-standing practice of the Canadian Press perhaps since that news agency's inception, but visibly the norm prior to World War II.The practice of dropping the letter u in such words was also considered a labour-saving technique during the early days of printing in which movable type was set manually.Canadian newspapers also received much of their international content from American press agencies, so it was much easier for editorial staff to leave the spellings from the wire services as provided.

In the 1990s, Canadian newspapers began to adopt the British spelling variants such as -our endings, notably with The Globe and Mail changing its spelling policy in October 1990. Other Canadian newspapers adopted similar changes later that decade, such as the Southam newspaper chain's conversion in September 1998. The Toronto Star adopted this new spelling policy in September 1997 after that publication's ombudsman discounted the issue earlier in 1997. The Star had always avoided using recognized Canadian spelling, citing the Gage Canadian Dictionary in their defence. Controversy around this issue was frequent. When the Gage Dictionary finally adopted standard Canadian spelling, the Star followed suit. Some publishers, e.g. Maclean's, continue to prefer American spellings.

CANADIAN RAISING

Canadian raising (also sometimes known as English diphthong raising) is an allophonic rule of phonology in many varieties of North American English that changes the pronunciation of diphthongs with open-vowel starting points. Most commonly, the shift affects /aɪ/ ⓘ or /aʊ/ ⓘ, or both, when they are pronounced before voiceless consonants (therefore, in words like price and clout, respectively, but not in prize and cloud). In North American English, /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ usually begin in an open vowel [ä~a], but through raising they shift to [ɐ] ⓘ, [ʌ] ⓘ or [ə] ⓘ. Canadian English often has raising in words with both /aɪ/ (height, life, psych, type, etc.) and /aʊ/ (clout, house, south, scout, etc.), while a number of American English varieties (such as Inland North, Western New England, and increasingly more General American accents) have this feature in /aɪ/ but not /aʊ/. It is thought to have originated in Canada in the late 19th century.

As its name implies, Canadian raising is found throughout most of Canada, though the exact phonetic quality of Canadian raising may differ throughout the country. In raised /aʊ/, the first element tends to be farther back in Quebec and the Canadian Prairies and Maritimes (particularly in Alberta): thus, [ʌʊ]. The first element tends to be the farthest forward in eastern and southern Ontario: thus, [ɛʊ~ɜʊ]. Newfoundland English is the Canadian dialect that participates least in any conditioned Canadian raising, while Vancouver English may lack the raising of /aɪ/ in particular.

Canadian raising is not restricted to Canada. Raising of both /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ is common in eastern New England, for example in some Boston accents (the former more likely than the latter),as well as in the Upper Midwest. South Atlantic English, New Orleans English, and the accents of England's Fens feature it as well.

Raising of just /aɪ/ is found in a much greater number of dialects in the United States; some researchers have begun to refer to raising of /aɪ/ without raising of /aʊ/ as American Raising. This phenomenon is most consistently found in the Inland North, the Upper Midwest, New England, New York City, and the mid-Atlantic areas of Pennsylvania (including Philadelphia), Maryland, and Delaware, as well as in Virginia. It is somewhat less common in the lower Midwest, the West, and the South. However, there is considerable variation in the raising of /aɪ/, and it can be found inconsistently throughout the United States.

EH

Eh (informal, chiefly Canada, Upper Midwestern US, New Zealand, UK) Used as a tag question, to emphasize what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said.

In North America, the word is stereotypically associated with Canada and can sometimes convey that the speaker is trying to sound (sarcastically) Canadian outside the country. However, it is in widespread use in many other parts of the English-speaking world, including the northern United States, Australia, New Zealand, England, Malaysia, the Philippines, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa and Nigeria.

Silvio Pasqualini Bolzano inglese ripetizioni English

[dertaglichedan]

Four Saboteurs, Allegedly Including An American, Killed Trying To Infiltrate Russia: Kremlin

Russia is alleging that a group of foreign military saboteurs has been killed trying to breach and attack Russian territory with Western-supplied weapons.

The country's Federal Security Service (FSB) has presented what is calling clear evidence that the heavily armed infiltrators into Russia's Bryansk region were foreign fighters, from nations including the United States, Canada, and Poland.

"FSB border guards, together with the units of Russia’s armed forces and the National Guard, thwarted an attempt to cross over the Russian state border in the Klimovsky district on Oct. 27," the Russian law enforcement body stated.

It said there were four "eliminated saboteurs" who were not Ukrainian, and possessed explosive devices along with foreign equipment and weapons.

State news agencies on Monday and Tuesday widely shared footage showing a Canadian flag and a Polish-language prayer book which some of the armed men were carrying. These items were displayed next the body of one of the alleged saboteurs.

Graphic photos and footage also featured a close-up of a tattoo of angel wings on a deceased man's arm. The FSB alleged this is evidence that he a member of the United States Army Rangers, as the tattoo featured a banner reading "Ranger" and "2d Bn"—an apparent reference to the 2nd Battalion of the US Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment.

Russian state media has circulated the following video (warning--graphic & disturbing content):

[beardedmrbean]

If you plan on flying around the country in 2025 and beyond, you might want to listen up.

You have about 365 days to make your state-issued driver’s license or identification “Real ID” compliant, per the Department of Homeland Security.  

The Real ID compliance is part of a larger act passed by Congress in 2005 to set “minimum security standards” for the distribution of identification materials, including driver’s licenses. This means that certain federal agencies, like the Transportation Security Administration or DHS, won’t be able to accept state-issued forms of identification without the Real ID seal.

It's taken a while for the compliance to stick, with DHS originally giving a 2020 deadline before pushing it back a year, then another two years and another two years after that due to “backlogged transactions” at MVD offices nationwide, according to previous USA TODAY reports.

You won’t be able to board federally regulated commercial aircraft, enter nuclear power plants, or access certain facilities if your identification documents aren’t Real ID compliant by May 7, 2025. 

Here’s what we know about Real IDs, including where to get one and why you should think about getting one.

Do I have to get a Real ID?

Not necessarily. 

If you have another form of identification that TSA accepts, there probably isn’t an immediate reason to obtain one, at least for travel purposes. But if you don’t have another form of identification and would like to travel around the country in the near future, you should try to obtain one. 

Here are all the other TSA-approved forms of identification:

◾ State-issued Enhanced Driver’s License

◾ U.S. passport

◾ U.S. passport card

◾ DHS trusted traveler cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)

◾ U.S. Department of Defense ID, including IDs issued to dependents

◾ Permanent resident card

◾ Border crossing card

◾ An acceptable photo ID issued by a federally recognized, Tribal Nation/Indian Tribe

◾ HSPD-12 PIV card

◾ Foreign government-issued passport

◾ Canadian provincial driver's license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada card

◾ Transportation worker identification credential

◾ U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment Authorization Card (I-766)

◾ U.S. Merchant Mariner Credential

◾ Veteran Health Identification Card (VHIC)

However, federal agencies “may only accept” state-issued driver’s licenses or identification cards that are Real ID compliant if you are trying to gain access to a federal facility. That includes TSA security checkpoints.

Enhanced driver’s licenses, only issued by Washington, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Vermont, are considered acceptable alternatives to REAL ID-compliant cards, according to DHS. 

What can I use my Real ID for?

For most people, it's all about boarding flights.

You can only use your Real ID card to obtain access to "nuclear power plants, access certain facilities, or board federally regulated commercial aircrafts," according to DHS.

The cards can't be used to travel across any border, whether that's Canada, Mexico, or any other international destination, according to DHS.

All you have to do to get a Real ID is to make time to head over to your local department of motor vehicles.

Every state is different, so the documents needed to verify your identity will vary. DHS says that at minimum, you will be asked to produce your full legal name, date of birth, social security number, two proofs of address of principal residence and lawful status.

The only difference between the state-issued forms of identification you have now and the Real ID-compliant card you hope to obtain is a unique marking stamped in the right-hand corner. The mark stamped on your Real ID compliant cards depends on the state.

[darkmaga-returns]

Canada has followed Mexico in a recent move to expand border security to temporarily delay tariffs. Justin Trudeau announced that $1.3 billion will go into a border plan, including new technology, equipment, and personnel. Trudeau said he will be appointing a Fentanyl Czar to oversee drug enforcement and will spend C$200 million on a new intelligence directive to handle drug-related crimes.

The peculiar aspect is that ALL of this was agreed upon last year. Public Safety Canada published “The Government of Canada’s Border Plan: significant investments to strengthen border security and our immigration system” on December 18, 2024, outlining the same plan to inject C$1.3 billion into US-Canada border security.

As the agency noted:

“Canada is investing $1.3 billion to bolster security at the border and strengthen the immigration system, all while keeping Canadians safe. This includes $667.5M for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, $355.4M for the Canada Border Services Agency, $180M over 6 years for the Communications Security Establishment, $77.7M for Health Canada, and $20M over five years for Public Safety Canada.”

The initial proposal did not include a specified Fentanyl Czar but Canada had agreed to increase border security significantly. Days ago, Canada was planning to implement retaliatory tariffs specifically against Republican-led states. The press is cheering this news as a victory for Trump, but I fail to see what measures have changed aside from Canada expediting its border security pl21,889 pounds of fentanyl an.

The fentanyl crisis with Canada has been overstated. America seized 43 pounds of fentanyl last year, amounting to 0.2% of all fentanyl seized last year. Mexico, on the other hand, was responsible for 96.6% of fentanyl seized at the border or 21,158 pounds. The amount of fentanyl seized at the Canadian border did increase from 2023, but only by 2 lbs.

[head-post]

Canada vows to strengthen border and immigration restrictions to appease Trump

The Canadian government on Tuesday announced a new plan to strengthen border security and the immigration system. Such a plan comes in response to US President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports unless Canada stops the flow of illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling into the US.

As part of a new C$1.3 billion (US$908 million) plan to address US President-elect Donald Trump’s concerns about migrants and fentanyl coming across the northern border, Canada is deploying what it calls an “aerial reconnaissance task force.”

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police will operate the task force, which consists of helicopters, drones and mobile observation towers. It’s one of many measures unveiled by the Canadian government on Tuesday in an attempt to stave off Trump’s threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all goods from the country unless it strengthens border security.

The announcement came a day after the country’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland abruptly resigned, accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of failing to seriously prepare for a Trump presidency. She was replaced by Dominic LeBlanc, the minister of public safety, who unveiled a border management plan on Tuesday.

The funding was first announced in the government’s budget update on Monday. Trudeau has promised to strengthen measures at the border after Trump threatened Mexico and Canada with tariffs if they don’t – though problems at the northern crossing pale in comparison to those at the southern crossing.

The plan would also expand the intelligence-gathering capabilities of the RCMP and the Communications Security Establishment’s cybersecurity agency. The Government plans to increase fines and criminal penalties for money-laundering and to establish a task force on the issue involving law enforcement and the financial sector.

In addition, the government intends to increase information sharing between Canadian and US officials, as well as between the federal government and the provinces. The Trudeau government said it will propose that the US create a new “North American Joint Strike Force” to combat transnational organised crime.

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duhem explained that the “strike team” would work with the US to train officers and law enforcement partners who specialise in fentanyl. They will work both domestically and in source countries of the deadly drug to disrupt its illegal trade, he said.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced changes to end a practice known as “flagging,” where a temporary resident leaves Canada and immediately returns to the point of entry to receive immigration services. He also said the government plans to expand its ability to cancel, amend or suspend immigration documents and stop accepting new applications.

In addition, the government will use artificial intelligence and visualisation tools and train new canine teams to help detect illegal drugs before they enter Canada. In addition, the government plans to create a new unit within the country’s health department to crack down on the importation of precursor chemicals, and will speed up the process of banning these materials to six months from three years.

Read more HERE

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“WANT VERIGIN SENT TO SOME OTHER PLACE,” Kingston Whig-Standard. February 7, 1933. Page 1. ---- Appeal Made to Premier Bennett and Minister Immigration --- HALIFAX, Feb. 7— A claim the order for deportation was premature and contained certain irregularities is made by petition to Mr. Justice Humphrey Mellish in Supreme Court, concerning the proposed deportation of Peter Verigin, leader of the Doukhobors. 

Peter G. Makarolf, personal counsel of Verigin, announced that J. J. Fewer, K.C., who is associated with himself and Lionel A. Ryan in the case, had telegraphed Premier R. B. Bennett and Hon. W. A. Gordon, Minster of Immigration, informing them that Verigin held passports for Argentina, Mexico, and Costa Rica, and asking that the Doukhobor chief be sent to one of those countries rather than Russia. Makaroff said the leader would undertake not to return to Canada, and would back it word with the entire $20,000,000 assets of the Brotherhood.

[altschmerzes]

gang you would not believe the week i am having. extended explanation of my current nightmare under the cut. please understand this is also mid ramp-up to finals season at my second year of law school and still trying to find a summer student position which means one million cover letters and applications.

when i moved to canada i tried to import my car. i did this twice, once by calling a company before i left that does this professionally, and they were like oh don't worry about it. you're fine, you don't need to do anything. i get to the border and the man at the border tells me the same thing. don't worry about it. you're fine you don't need to do anything. i go to the dmv here to try and title my damn car because my registration is expiring and i need to do that. the woman who works there is like oh you needed to import it :) but also get your driver's license first, trust me. okay. i go through the hell process of getting my ontario license. i now have my ontario license. i need to get a safety inspection and two forms from border control. sure. i don't have the first fucking idea how to do this but i'm sure i can figure it out.

fastforward. i got in an extremely minor accident on wednesday. entirely my fault, i was slightly distracted for a moment in stop and go traffic and a like. spider in my sleeve or something bit my arm and i hit the wrong pedal. got a ticket, spent 90 minutes dealing with the cops including the part where one of the cops spent several minutes lecturing me about how he can and should seize my car on the spot because it's registered out of country and i live here and that's tax evasion. i explain that i have been trying to get this dealt with but everybody kept telling me i didn't need to do that or worry about it. he tells me that's not his problem. sure. not his problem. understood. this has now become a problem that Cannot Wait though.

so what do i need to do to get my car registered here? still need those pieces of paper. i can get the safety inspection done at any old canadian tire, which, sure. that's fine. word. so what about the border forms? well. i call the canadian border services agency. i sit on hold for a while, and eventually the man on the phone not only can't seem to fucking comprehend anything i'm saying at first, he then also tells me that the solution to my problem is to drive to the fucking us/canada border, go back to the states, then drive back immediately and get the form then. oh my gd.

so i did that. i make the two hour drive to niagara fucking falls and i tell the us border agent what i'm doing there and he's like you can't do that. you need to export it from the us first or you'll get a five thousand dollar fine. and i'm like. okay. thank you sir. have a nice night. thank gd they give me no issue returning on the canadian side. so i make the drive home. having achieved nothing. nobody has given me any actionable information and the only thing more confusing and complicated than importing a car for personal use in canada is exporting one from the united states. literally on the government website it says 'every export office operates differently' which made me almost collapse into tears when i read it.

last night i decided okay, tomorrow i am calling a professional import/export service to throw myself on their mercy and beg them to help me. i might need to leave the country for a few days to get this dealt with bc it's possible i can't export it except for from us soil. all i am trying to do is follow the rules and every single person at every juncture of this nightmare has given me different, conflicting information.

just had that phone call. the good news: i am not going to need to go to the states for several days to deal with this. some nice lady from a company who does this professionally is gonna do the paperwork for me and has found me apparently the only us/canada border crossing that will let me do the us export shit from this side of the border. the bad news: it is an even farther crossing than the one i drove to yesterday, and i’m gonna have to wait a couple days to do it and then do it immediately, which means missing more class than i already missed yesterday trying to do this. hopefully then it will be sorted.

[avaaltechnologysolutions]

The trucking industry is one of the most regulated in the U.S. and Canada, which means compliance is always a top concern for transportation industries. This is especially true when it comes to cross-border freight. These days, border officials rely on digital documents to make the customs process smoother. Having the right software can make this process easy and reduce the risk of errors. Here are a few ways AVAAL eManifest software can make border crossing easy for your business.

Compliance Made Simple

To run a successful trucking business, compliance always needs to be a top priority. Not following the required customs process or accurately filling out documentation can result in lost time, reduced profits, and even legal consequences. Both Canada and the U.S. require carriers to submit their eManifests one hour prior and send their paperwork to customs brokers two hours prior to a driver’s arrival at the border. With AVAAL’s eManifest software, submitting this has never been easier. Our software is tailor-made to meet all the requirements so that you can cross the border without any hassles and be confident that you’re complying with all regulations.

Easy to Use Platform

Both the U.S. and Canada currently offer their own free eManifest portal. Unfortunately, these are difficult to use and not designed to support carriers that regularly cross the border. These platforms also don’t share data between ACE and ACI, creating issues for cross-border trucking companies. AVAAL eManifest is easy to use and reliable. It’s web-based software, meaning you can submit your manifests at any time and from anywhere. Our software also comes with 24/7 support, so we will be available to help you if any issues arise.

Tailored to Your Business' Needs

Not all trucking companies have the same needs, even when it comes to border-crossing. One thing that sets our eManifest software apart from others is that it can be tailor-fit to meet your company’s needs. Whether you’re a single operator or a multi-national company, we offer the greatest level of flexibility and have an eManifest plan to suit your requirements. We have a team of experts on hand ready to help you with all your businesses’ needs.

PAPS and PARS: How to Speed Up Your Cross-Border Shipments

PAPS (Pre-Arrival Processing System) and PARS (Pre-Arrival Review System) are essential components in cross-border trade between Canada and the United States. Let’s explore what they are and how they facilitate the movement of commercial goods across the Canadian and U.S. borders:

PARS (Pre-Arrival Review System):

Designation: PARS is used by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) to clear commercial goods through customs.

Functionality: It involves bar code labels placed on commercial invoices. CBSA agents scan these labels to determine whether goods need immediate release or further inspection.

Integration: PARS works with the ACI (Advance Commercial Information) electronic manifest system in Canada.

PAPS (Pre-Arrival Processing System):

Designation: PAPS is the U.S. counterpart of PARS.

Functionality: Similar to PARS, it allows U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to process goods as they cross the border.

Integration: PAPS operates within the ACE (Automated Commercial Environment) electronic manifest system in the United States.

Similarities and Differences:

Both PARS and PAPS serve the same purpose: facilitating the movement of goods.

The main difference lies in their geographical scope: PARS for Canada, PAPS for the USA.

Having similar systems streamlines importing and exporting between the two countries.

When Do You Need PARS or PAPS Numbers?

Any commercial shipments entering Canada or the U.S. by truck use PARS or PAPS numbers as the default shipping type.

The PARS/PAPS process involves carriers, shippers, and customs brokers working together to ensure smooth border crossings.

Here’s how it works:

A carrier assigns a PARS or PAPS number to a shipment.

The customs broker uses this number to request the release of the shipment from customs.

The carrier prepares an eManifest listing using ACI (Canada) or ACE (U.S.), referencing the PARS or PAPS number.

Only when both the broker’s entry and the carrier’s eManifest listing are accepted can the goods proceed to the border.

Customs officers verify the PARS or PAPS number to release the goods or refer them for inspection.

In summary, PARS and PAPS play a crucial role in expediting cross-border trade, ensuring compliance, and enhancing efficiency for carriers and importers.

For more information kindly visit – ACE/ACI emanifest Portal

[pcttrailsidereader]

The Canadian Border Has Re-Opened for PCT Hikers

Crossing into Manning Park in recent years has become one of the most daunting obstacles along the entirety of the PCT. Increasingly complex entry restrictions that require advance preparation has resulted in a number of hikers hiking north to the border monument and then retracing their steps to Harts or Rainy Pass. COVID restrictions limited access even more. So the news that the Canada PCT Entry Permit program has restarted is very good indeed! After being paused since 2020, Canada Border Services Agency, PCTA, and the U.S. Forest Service worked together to restart it.

A Canada PCT Entry Permit allows you to travel into Canada from the Northern Terminus of the PCT. With the permit, you can walk eight beautiful miles through British Columbia’s Manning Provincial Park to the nearest road.

The PCTA warns that "not everyone will be approved for a Canada PCT Entry Permit, and others will simply choose not to cross the border. . . . Please remember, this permit is only for crossing into Canada via the Pacific Crest Trail. Should detours find you traveling off the PCT to get to the border, you’ll need to turn around as this permit does not allow entrance into Canada at other locations. Also, travel into the United States from Canada via the PCT remains prohibited."

[kaiba-cave]

One of my biggest pet peeves at my job is when clients don’t realize that we are a customs broker, not the freaking Canadian Border Services Agency themselves.

Customs brokers are not the ones who make the decisions on whether or not your shit can come over the border, we’re just the ones who tell CBSA what you’re bringing in. THEY make the decision.

If your shit rejects and the CBSA is saying there’s something missing or invalid, but we’ve already correctly entered all of the information you’ve given us, then your info is incorrect or invalid. And if it’s not then you can take it up with the actual CBSA not the freaking customs broker. 🙄

[mariacallous]

Sen. Ron Wyden wrote his new memoir before the re-election of Donald Trump, and at times it reads like a dispatch from a distant era that ended on, well, Jan. 20.

The Jewish Oregon Democrat’s book recalls fierce battles over his signature issues — healthcare reform, climate change, consumer protection —  and his success in attracting bipartisan partners. 

 “I routinely team up with deeply conservative Republicans to pass legislation, without sacrificing my equally embedded progressive principles,” he writes in “It Takes Chutzpah: How to Fight Fearlessly for Progressive Change.”

When I asked him Thursday if that is still possible when the Republicans hold the White House and both chambers of Congress, a conservative supermajority sits on the Supreme Court, and the president is issuing a flurry of executive orders that have challenged the separation of powers and norms of government, he insisted it was.

He sees hope in the frenzied response to Trump’s executive order freezing hundreds of billions of dollars in federal grants and loans. The outcry from service providers, courts and politicians — including a few Republicans — pushed Trump to rescind the order. 

“I think now we’re starting to get people to come, we’re going to mobilize, we’re going to make a difference,” said Wyden. “We’re going to be heard.”

As his book’s title suggests, Wyden draws heavily on his Jewish background to explain his approach to life and governing. The son of two Jewish parents who fled the Nazis for safe harbor in the United States, he takes personally Trump’s order to end asylum entirely on the southern border.

He writes that his career in politics has been guided by two principles, chutzpah and tikkun olam. His take on tikkun olam — to “repair the world” – is a fairly standard version of a kabalistic concept that has come to mean social action in support of progressive causes. 

His definition of chutzpah is a little less traditional: Rather than describing an audacious and even shameless act of gall, his version of chutzpah is closer to moral courage. He writes that chutzpah is “shorthand for the individual’s self-confident, against-the-odds embrace of the possible.” 

“Chutzpah is inherently good, and people who don’t subscribe to that are essentially warping it,” said Wyden, drawing on an interpretation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, a Canadian contributor to Chabad.org. In the book, Wyden offers 12 ”Rules of Chutzpah,” ranging from “If you want to make change, you’ve got to make noise” to “There are two equally important paths to progress: Start good things and stop bad things.”

Chutzpah, he said, was behind his staff’s decision to gather and publicize the intel that 50 states were essentially having their Medicaid portals blocked due to the president’s spending freeze, and within a few hours, “we were on our way to being able to push back successfully and get it thrown out.” He calls it an example, “admittedly a modest one,” of traditional politics acting as a check on the executive. 

Wyden, who said political change almost always starts with the grassroots, believes a “great deal” more pushback is necessary, from his colleagues and everyday citizens. 

Wyden also calls on readers “to engage in serious political action to stop the United States from falling into the abyss of fascism” — at a time when activists have yet to take to the streets in large numbers to protest President Trump’s policies, and Democrats disagree about how aggressive they should be in fighting back against Trump’s nominees and agenda. 

“I think it’s starting to come back,” he said of the activist “resistance” that greeted Trump’s first term. “I mean, we went through the election, and certainly it was very different than when Trump won the first time, and people said, ‘My God, you know, we worked hard, but 77 million people voted for him. What can we do?’ 

“I’ve got town meetings coming up at home, and my colleagues are saying they’re starting to hear” more examples of people starting to mobilize. 

As Oregon’s senior senator, who’s served a total of 44 years in Congress, Wyden, 75, is the second-most senior Democrat in the Senate after Washington’s Patty Murray. When his party held the chamber, he chaired the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which oversees taxes, trade and tariffs, Social Security, Medicare and health policy. His seniority gives him status even in the minority: On Wednesday, as the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, a visibly angry Wyden grilled Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about his longstanding opposition to vaccines, saying that Trump’s nominee for health secretary was “both untrustworthy and unprepared.”

Wyden entered politics in law school as a campaign aide to former U.S. Senator Wayne Morse. Later, he was an advocate for seniors as co-founder of the Portland branch of the Gray Panthers advocacy group. (“By 27, I was among the nation’s youngest authorities on Medicare,” he writes.) 

After serving in Congress from 1981 to 1996, he was elected to the Senate in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Bob Packwood, a powerful Republican undone by a sexual harassment scandal. In doing so Wyden became the fourth Jewish senator from the state, following Richard L. Neuberger (1955 to 1960), his wife and successor Maurine Neuberger (1960 to 1967) and Joseph Simon, who served a partial term from 1898 to 1903.

Wyden says a tiny Jewish community flourished in Oregon due to the state’s iconoclasm. The same insular state that passed laws hounding Black people, Chinese immigrants and Catholics is also home to the arch-liberal Reed College and is a hotbed of progressivism, environmentalism and entrepreneurism, from Nike to the Harry & David fruit company, founded by Jewish brothers. 

Wyden said Oregon’s small Jewish community has also made a big impact because “Jewish values are Oregon values.” When I asked him for an example, he mentioned the environment. “A good example would be the way we treat the land. We constantly try to find a way to work together. You know, we want to protect our treasures. We want to have jobs. We don’t have some of the fighting and bickering that you see in other parts of the country, because we claim that both are of the soul” — that is, putting the land to use and protecting the environment. 

Wyden was a relative newcomer to Oregon when he was first elected to Congress. His mother, after divorcing his father in 1959 when Wyden was 10 and his brother Jeff was 8, left Chicago for Palo Alto, California, where the six-foot, four-inch Wyden would star as a high school basketball player.

Both his father, born Peter Weidenreich, and mother, Edith Rosenow, fled the Nazis with their parents in the 1930s. Peter’s family were upper-middle-class, assimilated German Jews; Wyden’s maternal grandfather was a prominent hematologist in Berlin and Königsberg.

After immigrating to the United States, Wyden’s mother and father both served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II: his father as a member of the legendary Ritchie Boys, which enlisted German-speaking refugees for intelligence work, and his mother as a member of the Women’s Army Corps.

Peter Wyden, who moved east, would go on to become a well-known journalist and the author of more than a dozen books, including ”Bay of Pigs: The Untold Story,” and a memoir about his son Jeffrey’s struggles with schizophrenia. Wyden’s mother worked at various defense contractors before getting a research job at Stanford University, where the future senator would get his bachelor’s degree. 

Wyden dedicates the book to his mother, whom he described to me as “one of that small group of Jewish women in Germany, in Berlin in particular, who basically woke up all the men who didn’t fully understand what a dangerous threat Hitler was.” Still a teen, Edith convinced her father that Hitler was more than a “crackpot and a nut.” While other family members were killed by the Nazis, Wyden’s grandfather managed to get his family to New York. “I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for the courage of my mother, in terms of stepping up to antisemitism,” said Wyden.

He invoked his parents in 2023 when he and Senate colleagues reintroduced a bill to smooth obstacles to naturalization for immigrants and refugees. (The bill stalled in committee.)  “I think that we are better and stronger for having values that helped my family — and many others who want to work hard, play by the rules and are suffering under really oppressive, immoral conditions around the world” — seek to immigrate as asylum-seekers and refugees, he told me. 

And yet he criticizes fellow Democrats for failing to grasp the political potency of Trump’s anti-immigrant message.

“There’s no question that Democrats have been too slow in terms of fleshing out an actual immigration plan that could compete with Trump’s,” he said. “We tried to do one in the six months before the election, we had a bipartisan bill with [Sens.] Chris Murphy [D-Connecticut] and James Lankford [R-Oklahoma], and essentially Trump barked and everybody gave up. And that would have been an opportunity to keep pushing it, get it on the floor, start adding elements that would have made it more attractive to young people, for example, coverage for the DACA youngsters, that sort of thing, and I think Democrats were too slow.”

The day before we spoke, Trump issued another order, this one on antisemitism that included a threat that non-citizen college students could be deported for activism seen as abetting terrorism. Like many of Trump’s orders, Wyden thinks this is another example of the president acting on a “whim” rather than a carefully thought-out proposal.

“There’s serious  antisemitism on the far right, and it’s also on the left. But when I think about the biggest challenge, the intellectual antisemitism on the left is not as serious as the Holocaust-denying, Seig-Heiling antisemitism of the right,” said Wyden. “I think that’s the biggest threat right now to our families and our communities, and we ought to say so. This Trump proposal deserves a lot more work and a lot more preparation.”

Wyden has two grown children from his first marriage and three younger children with his second wife, Nancy Bass Wyden, owner of New York’s legendary bookstore, the Strand. The couple were married in 2005 in a ceremony performed by Rabbi Ariel Stone of Portland’s independent Congregation Shir Tikvah.

Wyden said the other Jewish leaders he turns to for guidance include “my rabbi,” Michael Cahana of Portland’s Reform Congregation Beth Israel; Keenan Wolens, a developer and Jewish nonprofit leader in Los Angeles; and Janice Shorenstein, the executive director and CEO of Hadassah.

For a political memoir, the book is surprisingly honest in talking about the compromises Wyden made and the disappointments he’s experienced on the way to bringing even incremental change. (Among his 12 Rules of Chutzpah: “Compromise isn’t about horse-trading bad ideas for  each other; it’s about blending good ideas together into a whole that’s better than the sum of its parts.”) 

The 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, act was seen as a negotiating victory for the outgoing Trump administration, although Wyden remains proud that his provisions for unemployment were ultimately included in the final legislation.

He feels President Obama could have done a better job in selling his health care reforms in red as well as blue states, but is gratified that the Affordable Care Act extended insurance coverage to 20 million Americans and included ideas — a health insurance exchange, a ban on insurers’ discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions — Wyden had championed years before.

Despite the public’s cynicism about government and the appeal of a strongman president who promises to cut through the gridlock, Wyden is optimistic that the institutions he has been a part of for over four decades will hold. 

“Lots of people feel that the government can’t run a two-car parade, and I get that,” he said. “And there’s no question that Donald Trump thinks that he is a presence above all of these matters like federal rules and statutes and the like. And I think he’s going to be due for an awakening… [because] Republicans are going to give us some opportunities to do it. They’re going to make a lot of mistakes.”

If Democrats are going to win back Congress or in four years the presidency, said Wyden, they’ll need to show the ways Trump fails to deliver on his own promises about the economy. 

“We’ve got to show that Trump is talking about economic change for his friends at the top, and a big way he goes about paying for his friends at the top is by making sure that Medicaid, hunger assistance, assistance for housing, all of the essentials for the working families, are slashed.

“We’re going to call him on that, and win it back. With chutzpah, we can achieve dramatic things.”