Does acquiring citizenship end harassment in foreign airports?

[YYZone]

I’m black and don’t think racism is at play. Always annoying when you get selected for secondary checks but there are other things at play. The border agents are trained to profile people but for other thinks like drugs, visitors coming to work, etc.

For example, a single female with travelling from certain drugs producing countries with say just one piece of luggage will raise a red flag. Watch Border Security on Slice TV and you will get a better understanding of the method to the madness.

At the end of the day they are there to protect the borders and sometimes you will get caught in the crosshairs. Nothing beats having a Canadian passport though. In terms of respectability it’s at the top of the heap.

 

[Tgum23]

This is aavery interesting post... I was a pr from India. Treated perfectly normally on all my travels by all officials apart from air Canada officials .they have always asked me further questions looked at my pr card multiple times .. This is even when my parents are well to do citizens themselves.
Now I got my citizenship as well and plan to go on a vacation soon . I'll let you guys know if I see any difference

 

[ibry]

Some background here: I am a permanent resident in good standing and have a passport from a large developing nation. I have dark skin. I travel frequently out of the country for business reasons to the European Union. On flights back to Canada on Canadian carriers, I am almost always "randomly selected" by airline personnel at the boarding gate with my passport and PR card inspected with a magnifying glass for several minutes. I also get interrogated as to where I live in Canada, and what I was doing in the EU. This is despite the fact that I pass through Exit Immigration in the EU with no problems whatsoever (EU immigration officers have never taken a magnifying glass to my passport). Similarly, CBSA staff at the port of entry in Canada never question me. It appears to me that airline personnel are stepping out of bounds here.

I have two theories here:

1. I am profiled because of my skin colour.
2. I am profiled because of my citizenship, which means the airline personnel employed by a Canadian carrier don't "trust" the Canadian PR card.

Dark-skinned people who have acquired citizenship and traveled - did it completely eliminate harassment by airlines upon your return to Canada? Just wondering.

Sorry to ask maybe you are extremely dark skin am also dark skin (on the fair side) and i dnt get stopped or profiled. So it might really have to do with your skin color sorry you go through that though. I was profilled once in dubai and t feels bad i tell you.

Some times if you look too successful for a black person too with a foreign passport i noticed you get profiled too , you might be looking extremely rich they get bothered and wonder how its possible for a black to be successful still racism. my mum once had an expensive Lv bag she stopped carrying cause it used to get her stopped a lot. As soon as she stopped carrying it She had no issues

 

[kiala]

This year was my first time travelling with Canadian passport and I could feel the difference right away. All the excessively curious questions, condescending/puzzled looks etc. - all of that was gone.
But during my PR "youth" years I had my fair share of interrogations, usually at a transit airport overseas, although I am light skinned. These are questions I would get from airline agents every time I connect in Istanbul:
- What is your exact address in Ottawa (and they would actually type it in)
- What is your job
- Why do you also have a UK visa (!) (am I supposed to be a prisoner here?)
- Why are you flying to Montreal if you live in Ottawa (!!!) (give me a parachute and drop me off over Ottawa, man!)

All of these accompanied by overly condescending look as if I was the last person on earth to deserve Canada's PR.

I always enter Canada through Montreal and never had any unpleasant experience with CBSA agents, but once I entered via Ottawa and, boy, did that South East Asian man (obviously, an ethnic minority, like myself) get on my nerves! I was coming from vacation in Carribean and the man asked me these:
- Are you coming alone? (I say: with a friend)
- is it he or she?
- How long have you known him?
- How did you meet?

Not sure how all of these are a matter of National security.

After that interrogation, I swore to myself I would never ever enter Canada via Ottawa.
At the end, the "friend" (who happens to be black) was taken to a separate line with other blacks and south east asians for a separate 2-hour unpleasant experience where another agent (this time a woman) expressed doubts about the legitimacy of his PR card in a quite rude manner.

Well, glad it is over now.

I fought with people at istanbul airport and pissed them off. Some thing called ETA.which only applies to visitors and not PR. Any way I gave them a hard time and whole plane got delayed because of me about 30 minutes. But I lashed at them and told them being a PR they are not supposed to check me and they are nothing. Mind their airline job. It was a big drama but it was them who got humiliated not me..I don't give a....I gave them a really tough time so next time they will be careful interogating people...

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/eta.html?utm_source=slash-eta_ave&utm_medium=short-url-en&utm_campaign=eta

 

[azazaz]

I fought with people at istanbul airport and pissed them off. Some thing called ETA.which only applies to visitors and not PR. Any way I gave them a hard time and whole plane got delayed because of me about 30 minutes. But I lashed at them and told them being a PR they are not supposed to check me and they are nothing. Mind their airline job. It was a big drama but it was them who got humiliated not me..I don't give a....I gave them a really tough time so next time they will be careful interogating people...

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/eta.html?utm_source=slash-eta_ave&utm_medium=short-url-en&utm_campaign=eta

Nice one....Bravo...

 

[user828]

I don't know if its racism, but the passport holds a lot of weight. All the years, I traveled with an Indian passport with Multiple US visits, Europe and a very substantial travel history, it was always more questioning ( routine ) but when I first traveled to UK on my CAD passport - I see the friendly gesture from the officer who said how lucky I was to live in a beautiful place like Vancouver and how he would love to visit. Normally the form says how long and reason for visit, yet you are asked to confirm but this was the smoothest and I see my fellow Indians who were being fingerprinted but I assume that is mostly due to lot of immigration fraud. Even after that, been to other places and the response is the same - feel confident

 

[sistemc]

Well, I am white as milk, and I have an EU passport and a Canadian PR. But when I am returning to the Canada from an EU aeroport, all my documents are always double checked with the Air Canada ground personnel. Although they are proffesional, and never caused any problems, except sometimes a long waiting queue behind me at boarding.

That is a complete opposite to the Lufthansa where they never ask me for a passport verification or a PR card or similar BS.

Also passing a Canadian border control at the arrival airport is usually a breeze without much questions.

What really pisses me off is the land border crossing between the Canada and USA in both directions. Always plenty of waiting, hassle, forms, questioning etc. I am really looking forward that my Canadian passport will save me from that.

 

[Katayoon]

Sorry to ask maybe you are extremely dark skin am also dark skin (on the fair side) and i dnt get stopped or profiled. So it might really have to do with your skin color sorry you go through that though. I was profilled once in dubai and t feels bad i tell you.

Some times if you look too successful for a black person too with a foreign passport i noticed you get profiled too , you might be looking extremely rich they get bothered and wonder how its possible for a black to be successful still racism. my mum once had an expensive Lv bag she stopped carrying cause it used to get her stopped a lot. As soon as she stopped carrying it She had no issues

Agree. Some people are just bored mindless and start asking questions out of personal curiosity, knowing we have to respect authority and comply. One of my acquaintances, a cheerful Congolese man, works at Montreal airport and does not mind asking questions that are none of his business. One day there was a Russian woman passing the screening with her bi-racial daughter and he asked her where does the blackness of her daughter come from! Russian woman explained that her father went to Tanzania 40 years ago to spread communism and there she met her future husband etc. And that they have 2 more children etc. And where do they live etc. Bored people!

 

[azazaz]

I don't know if its racism, but the passport holds a lot of weight. All the years, I traveled with an Indian passport with Multiple US visits, Europe and a very substantial travel history, it was always more questioning ( routine ) but when I first traveled to UK on my CAD passport - I see the friendly gesture from the officer who said how lucky I was to live in a beautiful place like Vancouver and how he would love to visit. Normally the form says how long and reason for visit, yet you are asked to confirm but this was the smoothest and I see my fellow Indians who were being fingerprinted but I assume that is mostly due to lot of immigration fraud. Even after that, been to other places and the response is the same - feel confident

Nice post and experience...I agree with you 100%

 

[ohhhhusa]

Years ago, when I was on a student visa, I was on a London to Edmonton Air Canada flight, the flight attendant looked at my tickets and asked " Why did you do Geneva-London-Edmonton instead of Geneva-Montreal-Edmonton"? I said: "I don't know" Then she asked: "What school do you go to in Canada?" I said: "Don't know." She gave me a crazy look and walked away.
One day I was crossing the border in Surrey, BC and I ran into a young Punjabi CBSA agent. And for some reason, he wanted to make it very clear that he didn't have to let me back into the country because I was "only a student". He looked through my bag for a good 10 minutes and tested my bags, wallet and bank cards for .....cocaine?. I was is shock! He delayed the bus I was on for half an hour and the bus driver wasn't happy about it.

But since I became a PR, no problem whatsoever, not in foreign airports and not in Canada.
So to answer your question, I think if you're being harassed as a PR because of the colour of your skin, you will be harassed as a Canadian citizen because of the colour of your skin. If some idiot thinks your PR card might be fake because you're black, he will also think your passport might be fake because you're black.

 

[EndRacism2018]

Thanks for all the answers. It looks like some people had the same experience as me and it also appears that the gate agents may be overstepping their authority. I don't know how well these foreign airport staff are trained by the airline. I filed an official complaint with the airline and asked for clarification on their procedures. Maybe I should have argued with them instead of letting it go, but I was afraid they would deny me boarding because they do have that power. I was also asked personal questions about my love life - like what business is it of theirs?! I can tolerate these questions if the agent is friendly and smiling (even if it's still unprofessional) but this one was looking very hostile.

 

[jman25]

Quite an interesting thread. I am black and from the Caribbean, I've travelled to the US and the Caribbean multiple times and I've never experienced any undue questioning or felt any kind of harassment. Every time I came back to Canada they literally ask maybe 2 questions and I'm through. So I guess it just depends on the kind of day the CBSA agent is having lol.

I will say though, before moving to Canada racism was the last thing on my mind and it was pretty much non-existent. It was quite refreshing just seeing everyone around me as just another person. Never looking at them in a different light because of the colour of their skin. And not wondering how the other person of a different race looks at you and wondering if they even like you because your skin is darker than theirs. Mind you we have white, Asian and Indian people back in my country but it was just different, everyone existed as one. Since I've been here, it has become such an amplified reality, always in my face via the media. I guess it comes with the multi-cultural territory. All in all, Canada is still a great country that has opened doors to so many new experiences and opportunities and I am glad I chose this country as my new home. #my2cents

 

[EndRacism2018]

I will say though, before moving to Canada racism was the last thing on my mind and it was pretty much non-existent. It was quite refreshing just seeing everyone around me as just another person. Never looking at them in a different light because of the colour of their skin.

I think that may be in large part because there is so much intermarriage in the Caribbean. Black-Indian and Black-White are very common. I had a Jamaican roommate who was 1/2 black and 1/2 white and just saw himself as Jamaican as you say. We don't have that level of intermarriage in Canada with 2 exceptions:
1. White-Asian in the Lower Mainland area
2. White-Aboriginal or White-Metis or Metis-Aboriginal in some parts of the Prairies (and the Metis themselves are a product of mixed marriage).

But it needs another generation or two before the Canadian identity overpowers the individual race identity many people have.

 

[sansnom]

I used to be questioned a lot by both CBP and CBSA when crossing borders; until I got a NEXUS card. Now the only thing I heard when crossing borders is "welcome home".

Do they have anything like redress number? In US, if one is constantly selected for additional screening, he/she can apply for a redress number so that the next time TSA/CBP knows the person isn't the one they are looking for.

 

[amitdi]

Title is extremely misleading.

Are these additional checks unfair? Yes. Racist? Maybe, again different people will think differently. But harassment? Definitely not.

Even if I read the different observations, I dont think you guys have been "harassed". Airport policies and authorities dont think in those terms. Like lets only scrutinize certain ethnicities. That maybe happening, not denying that. But there is not much one can do when the whole world is not in a good shape.