Hi there,
In 2008 I rented a car with a girlfriend with plans to drive from New York and spend a long weekend in Montreal. When we arrived at the border we were pulled over for additional screening, where border officers were quick to produce a cigarette box with small baggies inside, which provided them with reasonable cause to conduct a thorough search of us and all of our belongings, and allowed them to place us in a holding cell for over an hour. An absolute nightmare to say the least.
Lo-and-behold the bags came back positive for Cocaine, but because none of our possessions had residue, and it was a rental vehicle they let us go and we were allowed to proceed to Montreal for the weekend. (The rental company later apologized and confessed to not cleaning the vehicle as thoroughly as they should)
11 years later I am filling out IMM-5669 and my wife does not think I should answer 'Yes' to the question about having been detained. I feel its better I be honest here rather than run the risk of CIC finding out about this incident during the background check and they flag my application for having withheld information that is probably very easily found.
Does answering 'Yes' to this question in any way imperil my application being approved, or is being honest the best track to take here? I should add that I've been admitted to Canada many times since the incident, sometimes for a few months at a time so this is not something that Canadian immigration seems to have a problem with
Anyway, all thoughts/ suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Snackshaw
In 2008 I rented a car with a girlfriend with plans to drive from New York and spend a long weekend in Montreal. When we arrived at the border we were pulled over for additional screening, where border officers were quick to produce a cigarette box with small baggies inside, which provided them with reasonable cause to conduct a thorough search of us and all of our belongings, and allowed them to place us in a holding cell for over an hour. An absolute nightmare to say the least.
Lo-and-behold the bags came back positive for Cocaine, but because none of our possessions had residue, and it was a rental vehicle they let us go and we were allowed to proceed to Montreal for the weekend. (The rental company later apologized and confessed to not cleaning the vehicle as thoroughly as they should)
11 years later I am filling out IMM-5669 and my wife does not think I should answer 'Yes' to the question about having been detained. I feel its better I be honest here rather than run the risk of CIC finding out about this incident during the background check and they flag my application for having withheld information that is probably very easily found.
Does answering 'Yes' to this question in any way imperil my application being approved, or is being honest the best track to take here? I should add that I've been admitted to Canada many times since the incident, sometimes for a few months at a time so this is not something that Canadian immigration seems to have a problem with
Anyway, all thoughts/ suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Snackshaw