There was a time when the United States and Canada were so deeply intertwined that it was almost impossible to tell them apart. The world’s longest undefended border felt like an open gate between two homes. In 2018, during a visit from France to Canada, I stayed with my sister and later traveled with my family to Niagara Falls to see my brother-in-law in Michigan.
At the border, our documents were checked briefly, but my brother-in-law’s American ID allowed him to pass without delay. It was a small yet telling example of the mutual trust and convenience that marked the relationship between the two neighbors.
Canada’s warm hospitality toward US visitors and the respect they received mirrored the dignity the United States offered to Canadian travelers. It reminded me of another crossing, years earlier, from Pakistan to China, where there was only one polite official on the Pakistani side helping tourists navigate the journey to one of the highest plateaus in the world.
Sadly, the current US–Canada border atmosphere now more closely resembles the tense and suspicious crossings between Pakistan and India, where travelers are stripped of ease and privacy, and once inside the country are shadowed by security services. This shift from warmth to wariness is both shocking and deeply regrettable.
Qamar Bashir
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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