Have you ever been some place that made you feel a little bit icky and all you wanted was to take a shower once you got away from there? I've experienced that a few times in my cop career. Some of the homes I've searched for items illegal were so disgustingly bad that even the cockroaches complained. Those types of conditions are somewhat expected when the goodness of life takes a back seat to the evils of drugs, violence and greed. I thought those feelings would be a memory once I turned in my gun and badge. To my surprise, I had that same inclination to wash away the icky upon my recent return from a vacation to the United States of America.
America is our neighbour and our friend. Just as with the family who lives next door, you have no say in the colour they choose to paint their house, how often they cut their grass, or whether they try and initiate a conversation with you from a second story window as they sit on the toilet (a true story). We either accept our neighbours for who they are or build one of those so called 'friendly neighbour' fences. These are the ones that are supposed to be high enough to provide the privacy and protection we all desire. I never did get around to building the 20 foot fence for our suburban Burlington bungalow that would shelter me from my neighbour while he was on the John. I figured it better to just go with the flow! I find it interesting that America is contemplating a fence along its border with Canada to parallel the one they have with Mexico. Are they trying to keep us out or keep their citizens in?
America sure has changed in the last ten years. The events of September, 2001 have affected her more than Bin Laden ever imagined. America believes it is under siege and is doing what it must to protect the way of life it has fought for since 1776. Freedom is that country's rallying cry. If it doesn't exist then some American's believe that death incurred in its pursuit is an acceptable by-product. As a Canadian and as only an occasional visitor to the US, I thought the "Give me liberty or give me death!" expression was just that, an expression. My most recent visit there made me realize the extent to which Americans (at least those that make up the government of the people) will go to ensure that their vision of liberty prevails. In a very perverse way, this is achieved by reducing the freedom of its citizens and anyone else that graces her soil.
I know a little about the law and the rights of people when they have dealings with Big Brother. My expertise is Canadian law, but there has always been a symbiotic relationship between our country and America. Our histories and values dictated that our democratic beliefs would and should be similar. As of today, I believe we are as far apart on this as we ever have been.
My case in point relate to the cards that Lynda and I found in our luggage upon returning to Canadian soil from the U.S. of A. These cards informed us that our bags were searched and that it may have been necessary to break the locks on the luggage but US Customs was not responsible for replacing or reimbursing the cost of the locks. I guess that is a small price to pay for liberty! No such invasive search can be conducted in Canada. You would have had to be present for Canada Customs to search your bag, or you would have to had given consent in some form, or the authorities would have required a search warrant. The Americans have whitewashed the issue by basically saying that the mere fact that anyone chooses to travel to or from their country implies that consent has been given for your luggage to be accosted. You may be able to find that innocuous point in the small print on some government website if you were inclined to look, as most of us are not.
While in the Big Apple, I was impressed by the number of NYC police officers walking the beat all over Manhattan. There were almost as many cops as Starbucks, but that's a story for another day. The cops took the city back from the criminal in the 1990's. Since 9-11, the cops have taken a little bit of the city away from the law biding people too. The newspapers and electronic media had daily stories regarding a NYC police policy called "stop and search". The idea is that an officer, who is anyway suspicious, is entitled to frisk a person and look in any bags he or she is carrying. Civil liberty groups attack the procedure because the statistic show that it has resulted in minorities being targeted disproportionately and the practice has not resulted in many meaningful arrests or seizures. I have to admit that when I was a cop I wish I had the "right" to stop and search some of the sketchy characters I came across. I had good spider-sense but our cursed Canadian laws made it impossible to detain anyone without grounds. As for searching any person, Canadian authorities can only do it upon arrest or if the person to be searched gives 'informed consent' to do so. The result is that everyone in Canada has infinitely more freedom and liberty than someone in many areas of America. I'm not sure the founding fathers of the original colonies would be happy with how their constitution has been twisted and interpreted. American legislators certainly seem to like to add amendments to this part or to that part of it.
Not so many months after the chat with my neighbour while he wrestled with bowel movements, I sold my house and moved my family back to Newfoundland. I don't think that incident had any impact on our decision to relocate, but who knows what lurks in one's subconscious. Canada can't do what I did. It is connected geographically, politically and socially to America and that will always be the case. Our hope is that America once again finds itself as the world's shining example of democracy and freedom. The alternative is that it continues to erode and its original ideals that saw it as the "land of the free" will be flushed down the toilet. If that happens, that proposed friendly-neighbour fence along the 49th parallel won't be a bad thing. For Canada that is.
