Welcome back to Canada!

For the last two weeks, I had a wonderful time in Britanny, France (explains the internet silence). At any rate, airplane security has increased quite a bit since the last time I flew. When leaving, I had forgotten I had liquids in my carry-on so they had to check it. The person at the counter was polite and took great care not to disturb my clothes. I didn't mind the checkup as it was my mistake.

Coming back, I had brought fine canned food from a friend's factory. I declared it fully knowing the customs would have to search my bags. Where the previous search could have been seen as, well, necessary unpleasantness, this was just downright hostile. The thing is, none of what I had brought was illegal. I was well within my right to bring these items, so what they were doing was simply checking that I wasn't bringing anything dangerous. The mentality however was that they were dealing with some sort of criminal. In truth, this is just bad customer service.

Customs are the first impression people have in a country. Pleasant custom agents are key in having tourists (and investors) see the country in a favorable light. The first row customs agents at the Montreal-Trudeau airport were nice enough but every single element of the customs department should act towards serving the country AND their customers.

Actually, the whole way the customs are handled at the airport is flawed. The declaration card is filled in on the plane by the customers. They decide what they write on it. This is only effective if there is little penalty for saying the truth or a high chance of finding a lie. The first case comes back to my "bad customer service" gripe. A person might think that it's better to not declare anything that they brought. They aren't running drugs so why should they be treated like criminals? Of course, some people ARE running drugs or bringing potentially dangerous items in the country. ¹ People who would bring these items knowing it is illegal would not write it on their card. I know the custom agents do random checks of people luggage but a simple way to make more certain would be to search everyone. We have the technology, why not apply it? Searching by hand is annoying to both the passenger and the customs agents. It can also be dangerous. Using scanners seems like a no-brainer. Yet…

¹note, by dangerous, I'm not talking about bombs or weapons as these would probably be stopped before getting on the plane. This is more about the things that might affect the ecosystem like raw meat or vegetables.