I flew from Medellin to Toronto and back two weeks ago. Other than a few immigration questions about my wife, I never had trouble entering the US, Canada or any other country in the world in over 55 years of international travel. When I landed in Lester Pearson airport in Toronoto at the end of last month, I was questioned by one of their border security people when I left the immigration booth. After retrieving my luggage, the guy at the exit told me to make a right because an agent wanted to talk to me. Well, the "talk" took almost two hours (while my friend waited in the cell lot for me). During the talk, every item I brought with me was scrutinized and analyzed. Even the metal frames of my suitcases were x-rayed. First, he asked me why I lived in Colombia. I told him why not? And explained that I was a retired American living in Colombia. He retorted, I can see by your passport that you're an American. Throughout the interrogation, I could see his search moved from drugs... then to weapons and explosives with a detailed swab of every square inch of my bags and clothing... and then finally the pornography. He looked at every picture on my tablet, notebook and sent my camera to a lab for a detailed examination. I answered his questions forthright, and did not pull any punches. 15 minutes into the interrogation, I got the sense that this guy realized there was nothing to find, but nevertheless, he continued with the "inspection" to chew up his shift. Halfway through, he granted me permission to let me text my buddy and clue him on what was going down. Finally, he looked at me, and said "OK... pack up your stuff and go out that back door." He left, went into the office and came out with a cup of coffee. That was it. No, "Thank you, for your cooperation" or "Sorry for the inconvenience." The next night, I had dinner with 5 Canadian buddies from ISOC. I recounted the story at the airport. One asked me if I got a squiggly line on my declaration. I replied, yes, why? They all laughed and said many times when they return to Toronto, they are met outside of immigration, and get the dreaded "squiggly line" which means that secondary inspection is just around the corner. It looks like Canada is doing its part against the war on terrorism and keeping its big brother to the south happy.
