The Peter Watts Incident

Following on the heels of the Amy Goodman incident comes a story about Canadian sci-fi writer Peter Watts and his experience trying to get back into Canada.

Peter had travelled to the US to help a friend move to Nebraska. He tried to return to Canada at Port Huron, Michigan. He was stopped by CBP officers who wanted to search his rental vehicle. Peter blogged about his experience but in a nutshell:

- Was stopped by US CBP officers who wanted to check his vehicle.

- Peter got out of his car and asked what was going on.

- CBP guards told him to get back into his vehicle.

- Some crazy stuff went down including Peter allegedly getting “shit kicked”, pepper sprayed, handcuffed, spending a night in jail, arraigned and charged with assaulting a federal officer, and finally dumped back into Canada minus his jacket in a cold winter storm.

A handful of sites and news agencies have picked up the story, including BoingBoing, Locus Online, and even the National Post.

Now before we get all “Oooo, how horrible!”, there’s a few things that need to be pointed out and clarified to his story:

First off, yes it was indeed US CBP officers that most likely performed the search of his vehicle. You may be wondering why US border guards would be searching a vehicle going back into Canada. Well, my next blog post will explain that, but for now trust me: they’re entitled to.

Secondly, while I never want to see anyone treated this way I have to question his initial actions. Regardless of your personal thoughts and feelings towards officers of the CBP and DHS, they have authority when it comes to border and immigration issues. Part of that authority means that they can search a Canadian’s car without much cause, if any.

Here we have another scenario of a Canadian thinking that they automatically get the equivalent rights of an American citizen (although I know Americans would argue they don’t have many rights given a similar situation either). Stepping out of your vehicle in a foreign country where foreign officers are wanting to perform a search is just stupid. Demanding to know why they can search your vehicle: borderline Darwin award winner.

We (Canadians) are not American. Their constitution applies to them, not us. Their rights and freedoms as American citizens apply to them, not us. Do we have to like that we’re considered aliens, the same as Mexicans are? Do we have to like that the friendlier border between our countries has been replaced with a harsher one? No and no…but we have to respect the border for what it is: a government established boundary that we are given privilege to cross, not a right to.

If you don’t like the rules, don’t cross the border. If you do cross the border, make sure you understand the rules and play by them. If you do, you can avoid what happened to Peter.