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Fined after crossing the street: Border building visit cost $1,000 |
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Residents of Stanstead have boasted of their unique camaraderie with their American friends just a few feet away, but as Pat Jory found out, regulations are getting stricter and a neighbourly visit to spread the good word can cost big bucks.
She was fined when she didn’t check in with border guards before and after visiting a building that you might say has dual citizenship.
“I’ve done this for years,” Jory said, after a protest led to the $1,000 fine on her credit card being returned to her. “If I hadn’t looked into it I would be out that $1,000.”
Stanstead is comprised of many homes where people wake up in Canada, but brush their teeth in the States. However, those dwellings themselves carry one citizenship.
But as Jory learned in April, one Dufferin Street apartment building carries both citizenships and visiting the wrong resident requires checking in at the border first.
“I parked down the street (in Canada) and walked across the street into the building to visit people,” said Jory, who wants to spread the word of God. “I know that there is a magic border in there somewhere but I don’t know which apartments are technically American....
“My brother-in-law used to live there.”
The building actually has two separate parking lots. One is for American parking; one for Canadians.
Upon finishing her rounds she jumped back into her car and proceeded around the neighbourhood. “The lights came on and an undercover RCMP officer pulled me over.”
The officer asked Jory for identification and escorted her to the Canadian border.
“They told me that they saw me come out of the apartment building on the video cameras they have, but I didn’t report in to Canada. I told them I wasn’t clear on where exactly the line was and that I’d done it for years, but (the customs officer) told me I was a local and I should have known better.”
To clarify, Jory was expected to park her car, walk up the road to check in with American border officials, walk back to her car to enter the building, then upon exiting she was to walk back up another road to check in with Canadian border officials.
Jory was told she was being slapped with a $1,000 illegal border crossing infraction, and her vehicle was to be impounded if she didn’t pay on the spot. She handed over her credit card.
“He said he wasn’t fining me, he was seizing my car and he told me things have changed.
“I didn’t get a fine from the American side. They fine $5,000. I know because I know someone who received one for going to the library on their bicycle.”
Upon her return home Jory encountered Jean-Yves Durocher. He contacted Compton-Stanstead Bloc Québécois MP France Bonsant, where political attaché Sylvie Desjardins opened a dossier.
“This is quite a unique situation,” she said. “They didn’t really stop her, technically they seized the car, but after many discussions with the mayor, the building owner and (Jory) and I retraced her steps and that car never left Canada. We recommended that the building be recognized as Canadian, as well as suggested placing signs to better inform the public. This is quite a mess.”
Perhaps because of Bonsant’s involvement, Jory was sent a letter of apology, as well as a $1,000 reimbursement, plus interest.
Said Desjardins: “She can still go there, but she will need to check in when she leaves. This is very particular indeed. Regulations and rules have slowly been getting stricter over the past two years, and this is an example.”
By Jen Young
July 17, 2008 |
Montreal Canadiens
