The following is excerpted from today’s edition of “globeandmail.com” .
Little more than a written warning and a wag of the finger greeted travellers arriving at the Canada-U.S. border without a passport yesterday as the latest bid by the United States to buttress homeland security began with a wink and a nudge.
It marked a soft launch of sorts for the latest phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which now requires everyone entering the country - including U.S. citizens to produce a passport at the border.
Travel delays failed to materialize amid modest cross-border traffic, a high degree of passport awareness on the Canadian side of the border and the willingness of U.S. border guards to give non-compliant travellers a pass - for now.
Kevin Corsaro, chief customs and border protective officer on the U.S. side of the Peace Bridge, said officials all along both the northern and southern borders were in “informed compliance” mode and likely would be for some time.
“If you cross anywhere within the United States, whether it’s on the northern border or the southern border, we’re applying this informed compliance phase,” Mr. Corsaro said.
“We don’t think it’s going to go away any time soon — we believe it’s going to go on throughout the summer. We’re waiting for further guidance from the department on that.”…
“I got just a warning sheet for now,” said [a traveller without proper documentation], who vowed to get herself a passport before trying to enter the U.S. again…
Indeed, a new Canadian Press Harris Decima poll released yesterday suggests that while about two-thirds of Canadians have a passport, most don’t think the new requirement will have a significant impact on security….
The survey found that just 28 per cent of respondents did not have a passport. Five per cent of those surveyed said they had no passport despite travelling to the U.S. at least once a year….
Very few travellers were showing up yesterday without passports, Mr. Corsaro said, but those who didn’t were not being turned away.
“We will not refuse a Canadian entry into this country if that’s their only violation,” he said. “We’ve seen absolutely no effect whatsoever from the implementation of the law today, in fact we’re seeing upward of 95-per-compliance as of last night at midnight.”…
According to Passport Canada, about 54 per cent of Canadians have the document, compared with just 30 per cent of Americans. The fear in Canada has been that the passport requirement would discourage U.S. tourists from travelling north.
Those who enter the U.S. without proper documents are given a paper that says: “Noncompliant. You are not in compliance with the secure document requirements that went into effect June 1, 2009, for entry into the United States.”
“U.S. and Canadian citizens must present a secure travel document for entry into the United States at land and sea ports of entry.”
Aside from a passport, other secure forms of documentation include a Nexus card or an “enhanced” driver’s licence.