MANITOBA: Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers not only keep dangerous goods out of Canada, but also protect communities by screening travellers for criminal history. Southern Manitoba border services officers refuse entry to travellers every month for various reasons, including some with significant criminal records.
On June 1, officers at the Emerson border crossing processed a 41-year-old man seeking entry to Canada. However, they refused him entry after determining he had convictions for grand theft and burglary. CBSA officers at Emerson turned back many other U.S. residents, including:
- A 52-year-old man with a conviction of assault with substantial bodily harm and charges for obstruction and theft (June 1)
- A 49-year-old man with a conviction for delivery of a controlled substance and a charge for assault (June 3)
- A 30-year-old man with convictions for resisting law enforcement and driving under the influence (June 4)
- A 57-year-old man with two assault convictions and a driving under-the-influence conviction (June 4)
- A 27-year-old man with a conviction for assault causing bodily harm (June 10)
- A 33-year-old man with convictions for interfering with a 9-11 call, assault, and criminal mischief. (June 11).
Lyleton officers refused entry to a 44-year-old man on his way to Alaska on June 8. The man admitted to multiple convictions spanning a 23-year period for receiving stolen property, breaking-and-entering, grand theft, resisting arrest, failure to comply, tampering with a coin machine, criminal trespassing, and public indecency.
Travellers are always reminded to make a truthful declaration to CBSA officers. On June 3 at Emerson, a Manitoba man and woman declared $620 in auto parts from a parcel they had picked up in North Dakota, yet neither person could produce invoices. Background checks showed that one of the travellers had previously been warned by the CBSA for failing to declare auto parts. Officers therefore examined the vehicle and found that there was actually approximately $10,630 worth of purchased auto parts they had not declared. The travellers paid a $950 penalty and continued into Canada.
The CBSA continues to remind all travellers of the current restrictions on importing poultry products. It is prohibited to import all raw poultry and all poultry products and by-products that are not fully cooked from certain states. This includes eggs and raw pet foods sourced, processed, packaged or shipped from 15 states, including North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota and Montana.
- In June 2015, CBSA officers in southern Manitoba processed 184,268 travellers in 66,395 cars; 23,162 commercial trucks; and issued 81 work permits, and 2 study permits.
- Emerson officers completed 140 permanent resident landings.
- Emerson officers refused entry to 55 foreign nationals for criminality or other reasons.
- Under Canada’s immigration law, foreign nationals who have committed or been convicted of a crime may be refused entry into Canada. For more information on overcoming criminal convictions, visit Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s website.
