Canadian Border agents going on strike?
Well here we are, 17 days out from our trip to Alaska. We have a new thing to keep an eye on besides any forest fires that may decide to start up. I think the one in Ft.Nelson is over for now, people have been allowed to return home. But now the Canadian border agents are on the verge of going on strike. This Friday June.14th at 4pm is the deadline. We’re not sure how this will impact our crossing into the land of Maple Syrup and cardboard straws, but it I don’t think it will be pleasant.
The agents are required to still go to work, with that being said they can make life a living hell on people crossing into Canada. They will impose a work-to-rule. The way I understand this, now mind you I haven’t stayed at a Holiday Express in some time so I’m no expert on Canadian policy, but this means since they still have to report to work they will have to do other things to get their point across to the Canadian Govt. that they are fed up. From what I’m reading they have been out of contract for over two years so I guess this is long over due.
Work-to-rule means they will go BY THE BOOK on every vehicle and person crossing. This means they may do thorough searches on every car, truck, RV, Motorcyle etc. They will move slowly and the lines will get very long. They Said you could expect over 10 hours of waiting to cross the border. We are crossing at smaller crossings in the middle of nowhere so that may help, or it could be bad because other people will have the same idea.
Being on motorcycles, this is going to SUCK. The crossings we are hitting already have limited hours, So I can’t imagine how it will work if there are lines and then they close. One of our crossings is in the middle of no where with nothing available, literally in BFE, does this mean if we don’t cross before they close we have to sit out in the forest over night with the bears? I’m not sure…..I guess all we can do at this point is continue to monitor the news and hope they work this out, When we are coming back to the US we could always take a play out of the Mexican play book and ride our bikes across a river, or hitch a ride under a truck, Brandon and I could change our names to Juan and Juamal and say we are twins, If you’ve seen Juan you’ve Juamal….Until next time…remember its better to die with memories, not dreams……Ride on!
