This Quebec traveller gets mistaken for a criminal at the U.S. border. He's not the only one
CBC
Quebecer Danny Roy is a travel enthusiast and the United States is one of his favourite destinations.
But for him, crossing the border is no easy task.
He is regularly intercepted and questioned because he is mistaken for a namesake with a criminal past.
Things went south in the summer of 2022 when he showed up with his family at the Jackman border crossing in Maine, on the border of Beauce, Que. Roy says he was asked to get out of the car and to go inside, where an interrogation began.
"Where do I live? What do I do for a living? And do I have tattoos?" are among the questions Roy told Radio-Canada's La facture he was asked.
After a 30-minute interrogation, he said he was allowed to enter the country.
Roy has a valid passport and no criminal record. But because he has one of the most common last names in Quebec, he suspects that customs officials have confused him with one of his namesakes who have had run-ins with the law, some more serious than others. One of them pleaded guilty with involuntary manslaughter.
"No matter how serious the offence, if you have a name that is similar to someone with a criminal record, you will be checked, perhaps even prevented from entering the United States," said Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a border security expert and former investigator with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
After that first mishap, Roy had an official document made with the seal of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), certifying that he had no criminal record.
This paper, which initially gave him a sense of security, ultimately had little effect. Since then, he's been stopped and questioned several times by American customs officers.
"They did not seem impressed by the document," said Roy.
Juneau-Katsuya said with the possibility of documents being falsified, there is a lot of "latitude" given to customs officers to decide how seriously to take them.
Roy's fourth interrogation, in 2024, was a costly one. By the time American customs officials cleared his entry, he had already missed his flight to Tampa Bay and had to buy another ticket. And since he didn't board his original flight, his return ticket was no longer valid and he had no choice but to buy a new one.
Air Canada initially refused to reimburse the $1,300 tickets, but reversed course after questions from La facture.
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