In theory this would be just a minor inconvenience, albeit an intrusive one, visited upon particular Canadian citizens by US Customs & Immigration.

But the case mentioned was more than a minor inconvenience. The subject was a Canadian born in Syria, who hadn't been there in many many years. He was going through JFK on his way home to Ottawa when he was arrested by US immigration officials. He was held for a week, then deported, not to Canada where he is a respected and established citizen, but to somewhere in the middle east. I say somewhere, because they supposedly sent him to Syria, but he eventually turned up in Jordan. His wife was freaking out, she didn't know where he was for weeks. Ironically, the LAST place he would have chosen to go was Syria, where he was subject to arrest for not having done his military service.

The reason the Americans stopped him may have been a case of mistaken identity. He was mistaken for someone else who US immigration says "knows someone who is a member of Al-Quaeda". So, it was guilt by association but they had the wrong guy to start with, then deported him to a different place than they said they were going to, neither of which was his home.

Ultimately I guess the Americans can keep whomever they decide to reject out of the U.S.--they've been known to keep me from entering there, although not in a few decades--but it is bizarre that they think they can keep Canadians from entering Canada.

Note: ALL of the Sept 11 hijackers entered the U.S. legally, a few from Canada, a few from Mexico, and the rest directly from overseas. So it is disingenuous for US Immigration to point fingers at our immigration policies.

W-O