Canusa Street – How does this work?

[ghYHZ]

Looks like it could be any street in a small New England town....except the houses on the right are in Vermont and those on the left are in Quebec. Canusa Street runs east-west and is the US-Canada Border.

https://goo.gl/maps/z3dhQ2a5gTN2

I imagine at one time it wasn't a problem.... but in these times of heightened border security do Quebec residents have to drive westbound only? .....and those in Vermont....eastbound takes them further into Quebec? Even backing out of your driveway has you entering the other country illegally   and it's probably a no-go just to walk across the street to visit your neighbor!

This view is interesting (below -looking west) Canada Customs is on the right and US on the left. "Arret"  in Quebec...and "Stop"  in Vermont. Do those Vermont residents on Canusa St drive west...pass through Canada's CBSA...drive across the street then go through US CBP to continue on?

https://goo.gl/maps/n5QhBfCXMXz

   

[7/8]

I found this Toronto Star article which talks about living Canusa Street. It does mention that crossing the street requires checking in with border security, though I wonder if someone else can give more details on this. For example, is a Canadian driving south from Canada, who heads east on the street before turning into their driveway, considered to have entered the US, or do they let this slide? If it does need customs, you would always want to make a right in-and-out of your driveway to avoid the hassle.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/06/01/quebec-vermont-towns-straddling-border-chafe-under-heightened-security.html

Quebec-Vermont towns straddling border chafe under heightened security
Six Canadian and U.S. checkpoints service the four-kilometre stretch of frontier that cuts through the villages of Derby Line in Vermont, and the town of Stanstead, Que. But the heightened security doesn't sit well with all of the residents in these once close-knit cross-border communities.

STANSTEAD, QUE.–For some folks living in a cluster of small towns straddling the U.S.-Canadian border here, life could not feel more comfortably secure.

Six Canadian and U.S. checkpoints service the four-kilometre stretch of frontier that cuts through the villages of Derby Line and Beebe Plain, both in Vermont, and the town of Stanstead, in Quebec. Street cameras, satellite and sensor surveillance, vehicle patrols, and the occasional thumping helicopter overhead ensure that residents can't budge without someone watching.

It's no wonder that many don't bother to lock their doors.

"We really feel safe,"  said Laurie Dubois, 56, an American living on the Canadian side. With the cameras and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, she noted, "there's not a whole lot of bad stuff going on."

But the heightened security is a sign of the times that doesn't sit well with all of the residents in these once close-knit cross-border communities tucked into the northern highlands of the Appalachian Mountains.

"It's a pretty pain in the ass is what it is,"  said Patrick Boisvert, 75, a machinist in Beebe Plain.

Surveillance has grown stricter and more intrusive all along the 6,300-km lower-U.S.-Canadian frontier since Sept. 11, 2001, creating a continent-wide gulf that many argue reflects a political parting of ways, as well – American conservatism versus Canadian socialism, as defined by Canada's universal health care, maternity leave, tough gun laws, and subsidized day care and higher education.

But the burden borne by the Vermont-Quebec communities is unique. Residents linked by intermarriage, blood relations and, in many cases, dual citizenship are now separated by an invisible but hardening wall. Neighbourhoods that once shared schools, sports facilities, doctors and churches in a kind of free-flowing human commerce have retreated to their own sides of the border.

Nowhere is the divide more apparent than along the 570-metre stretch of Highway 247 – called Canusa Street in Vermont and Rue Canusa in Quebec – where Boisvert has lived all of his life.

On Canusa, the border runs east-west more or less right down the middle of the street. Drive on the north side, going west, and you are in Canada. Drive east and you are in the United States.

Boisvert's father was a Canadian born in the small town of Rock Island (now Stanstead) just across from Derby Line. He married an American and moved to the white clapboard house in Beebe Plain where Patrick Boisvert still lives with his wife, Louise.

Boisvert said that when he was a child, his best friend was a Canadian who lived across Canusa Street. "So, hell, we were back and forth across that road 100 times a day. We didn't think about it. Border? What border? And now this s--- that's going on."

What Boisvert means is that every time he or his wife cross the street or drive off on an errand, they have to report in at the U.S. or Canadian border posts. It's the same for all 23 families on the street.

The border stations are close by, but often there are lines. The fine for not checking in is a steep $5,000 and/or two years in jail on the American side and $1,000 on the Canadian side. And there's no escaping the surveillance, Boisvert said.

Louise said she no longer visits her Canadian neighbor Mylène.

"If we are going to talk to each other, she stands on her side, and I stand on mine,"  she said. One time, "there was some sort of little domesticated rat that was following Mylène around over there and she came over, she had her passport in her hand, and she said, "˜There's this rat, and I think it's somebody's pet.' She wanted to find the owner. But she had to go and report and come over here and then she was going to have to go to the Canadian side to report back. . . . I don't know what happened to the rat."

Metal gates now block the north-south streets that once connected Derby Line and Stanstead.

In at least two cases, the border runs through homes, restricting access to back yards and forcing owners to seal off doors.

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House famously straddles the Derby Line-Stanstead frontier. A row of flowerpots denotes the border traversing the street that leads to the front door, which is in the United States. Most of the rest of the building is in Canada. Inside, black tape tracing the border runs diagonally through the children's section.

Here the border rules fall away. Canadians and Americans are permitted to access to the century-old brick building without having to check in with the border guards. Children enchanted by Peter Pan find their own version of Neverland.

Dual citizenship is common – a result of marriages and also the fact that many Canadians were born just across the border at the hospital in Newport, thus acquiring U.S. citizenship.

Where these people opted to live often reflects the divergent political and social paths the two countries have chosen.

Laurie Dubois immigrated to Canada from Vermont in 1971, when her mother married a Canadian. Now she and her American husband operate a small cross-border business engraving tombstones. The area's granite quarries are a mainstay of the economically struggling region.

She said she would like to move back to the United States, because "Americans are more friendly,"  but stays because of Canada's social safety nets, particularly its universal health care.

"It covers a lot of stuff that my husband deals with,"  she said. "He has a heart problem, and he has an ileostomy. He has kidney problems."

For Louise Boisvert, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders "is our babe"  because he wants to bring Canada's subsidized higher education, single-payer universal health care, higher minimum wage and paid maternity leave to the United States.

"It's time we started looking after our citizens,"  she said.

But her husband says Sanders is "delusional"  if he thinks the United States will adopt universal health coverage.

"I don't think you can change it,"  he said. "Everything is too entrenched."

With each generation, memories of a closer cross-border community have faded. Sylvain Matte, 43, is an engineer and machine designer who lives up the street from the Boisverts on the Canadian side.

He notes that he has had casual exchanges – barbecues and drinks around a bonfire – with his American neighbors, but nothing that approaches real friendship.

"For me, it's normal,"  he said of the street.

His 18-year-old daughter, Vladimire, added that she had an American friend when she was small, but not anymore.

"Americans are different,"  she said. "I can't really put my finger on why, but they are."

[Brandon]

This is fucking insane, and reason #1 why border controls on the US/Canadian border are stupid.

[kphoger]

border controls on the US/Canadian border are stupid.

FTFY.

Build a wall and beef up security along the southern border in the name of fighting terrorism, when a person can literally enter the USA by walking across the street on the northern border.

[cpzilliacus]

border controls on the US/Canadian border are stupid.

FTFY.

Build a wall and beef up security along the southern border in the name of fighting terrorism, when a person can literally enter the USA by walking across the street on the northern border.

There's a difference between the two.  In spite of some differences (described above), the U.S. and Canada are reasonably wealthy nations.  Not so at the border between the United States and Mexico (of course, many of those problems would go away if the U.S. Congress decided to terminate the so-called "War on  Drugs").

[kphoger]

border controls on the US/Canadian border are stupid.

FTFY.

Build a wall and beef up security along the southern border in the name of fighting terrorism, when a person can literally enter the USA by walking across the street on the northern border.

There's a difference between the two.  In spite of some differences (described above), the U.S. and Canada are reasonably wealthy nations.  Not so at the border between the United States and Mexico (of course, many of those problems would go away if the U.S. Congress decided to terminate the so-called "War on  Drugs").

But that's about migration, not terrorism.  Once you mention fighting terrorism (a.k.a. security), nobody can object.  It's a trump card (pun intended).  Like "what about the children."

[noelbotevera]

Before this becomes political mudslinging, I'm going to slide a comment in here.

Honestly, there's no point. The nearest city is eight hours away, there's no towns around for miles, and do you really expect crime in a city that has a population under 1000?

Now, about Canusa Street, I'd imagine you'd follow US law. There was effectively nothing here for at least fifty years, and considering it was part of the US first, I'd say US driving laws would apply here.

[ghYHZ]

Honestly, there's no point. The nearest city is eight hours away, there's no towns around for miles, and do you really expect crime in a city that has a population under 1000?

Now, about Canusa Street, I'd imagine you'd follow US law. There was effectively nothing here for at least fifty years, and considering it was part of the US first, I'd say US driving laws would apply here.

Actually the nearest city is Montreal....1 1/2 hrs away with a metro pop. of about 3.8 million

US driving laws would apply on the US side of the street....but the other side is rue Canusa and Canadian or Quebec law would apply.

[corco]

Honestly, there's no point. The nearest city is eight hours away, there's no towns around for miles, and do you really expect crime in a city that has a population under 1000?

Aside from the border issue, that's an incredibly naive comment - these little towns do (on occasion) have some pretty bad crime, usually a lot of break-ins tied to meth/pills.

[SignGeek101]

Now, about Canusa Street, I'd imagine you'd follow US law. There was effectively nothing here for at least fifty years, and considering it was part of the US first, I'd say US driving laws would apply here.

Then it would be the first street with a legal speed limit in km/h   

https://goo.gl/maps/anNWk6yZoDm

I wonder who would manage residential services along the street (garbage etc) as well as road maintenance. Does MTQ do the west bound lane and VDOT do the eastbound? 

[oscar]

This is fucking insane, and reason #1 why border controls on the US/Canadian border are stupid.

So long as you have significant differences in policy (such as for gun ownership, or immigration) between the two countries, you need some kind of border controls.

There used to be no customs checkpoint between the neighboring towns Hyder AK and Stewart BC. There now is one just on the Canadian side. Hyder is very difficult to reach or leave except through Canada, so the U.S. isn't too worried about terrorists, etc. using Hyder as their point of entry into the U.S. Ditto for Canada, but they are worried about Stewart residents and other Canadians evading high alcohol and tobacco taxes by buying their stuff in Hyder. Until the customs checkpoint was established, Royal Canadian Mounted Police patrols kept a lookout for smugglers, as well as DUIs who didn't hang around Hyder long enough after getting "Hyderized" at a local bar.

[Duke87]

I imagine at one time it wasn't a problem.... but in these times of heightened border security do Quebec residents have to drive westbound only? .....and those in Vermont....eastbound takes them further into Quebec? Even backing out of your driveway has you entering the other country illegally   and it's probably a no-go just to walk across the street to visit your neighbor!

This view is interesting (below -looking west) Canada Customs is on the right and US on the left. "Arret"  in Quebec...and "Stop"  in Vermont. Do those Vermont residents on Canusa St drive west...pass through Canada's CBSA...drive across the street then go through US CBP to continue on?

Firstly, let's note here that the article describes the border as running "more or less right down the middle of the street" (emphasis mine). This wording is deliberate, the precise location of the border doesn't follow the double yellow lines. The street itself does not run perfectly east-west and, due to old surveys by which the border is defined being imperfect, neither does the border. The houses on the north side of the street are unambiguously in Quebec and the houses on the south side of the street unambiguously in Vermont, but exactly at what point in crossing the street you cross the border probably varies up and down the block.

That said, it appears that anyone following QC 247 and just passing through is permitted to do so in either direction without clearing customs (note that the street view van did exactly this), and presumably this would apply to residents on the Canadian side of the street as well.

The issue more drastically affects the folks on the US side of the street, who are literally not allowed to leave their houses (by car at least) without checking in with a customs agent both on the way out and on the way back, because the US is more anal retentive about this than Canada is. At least the locals probably know all the agents there very well and clear customs easier than any of us would.


It's certainly a shining example of how absurd the current state of border security is. At the same time, though, it also presents a curious insight into how policy made on a high up level fails to consider these sorts of odd situations, leaving folks on the ground to sort it out. While both countries have their customs rules and breaking them is liable get you in trouble, it is physically possible at this location to drive right around both the US and Canadian customs houses, creating an enforcement challenge.

One wonders if, at some point, the US government (or a lower jurisdiction, even) may seek to physically modify the area in order to solve this problem. If you built a new street behind the houses on the US side and had them redo their driveways to exit onto it, they would be able to come and go by car without leaving the country.




A couple other thoughts:
- I wonder what it would be like to try and buy or sell one of these houses? I imagine the folks living them might have a hard time, and a newcomer may face some odd scrutiny... although it sounds like there's a lot of the "this house has been in this family for generations and has never been sold" thing going on there (see the elderly resident in the article who has lived in the same house his entire life).

- Rue Canusa is not the only border-straddling road between the US and Canada. The Aroostook Valley Country Club, which has members from both countries, has similar drama with Russel Road. The golf course is in Canada but the parking lot is in the US. US customs didn't care until 2008, when they started telling everyone they had to take a signficant detour to clear customs at the nearest checkpoint in Fort Fairfield in order to go to the course from Canada. There's also the aptly-named Border Road east of Sweet Grass, MT/Coutts, AB. This sign implies that turning onto this road from the Canadian side requires you check in with US customs (the nearest border crossing is at I-15/AB 4), although the street view van does not appear to have done so - so maybe that only applies if you take one of the turnoffs into the US.

[1995hoo]

The houses there can have some odd issues. Canada allows toilets that use more water than US-spec ones, so if your house straddles the border, you have to be careful what you put where. People are also careful about where they put their beds so as not to spend too many hours in the other country lest they run afoul of tax and other laws. As Duke87 says, it shows how stupid government inflexibility is.

[vdeane]

And unfortunately, it will take a culture change to fix this.  Government agencies encourage their workers to follow the letter of the law at all times, even if it causes problems, rather than bending the rules but following the spirit of the law while allowing for whatever peculiarities a situation has.  We even have annual trainings to drill into us how wonderful bureaucracy is.  That's why government forms are so long and seem to have so many irrelevant things: because flexibility is so discouraged, the form has to cover every conceivable situation possible, no matter how unlikely.  If the person designing a form or procedure didn't think of a particular situation, stuff like this is the result.

[froggie]

Duke87 beat me to it and is more or less correct.  I've been here and do not live all that far away (about 45min).  Regarding some of the other questions that have been brought up:

- Street jurisdiction/maintenance is Canadian.
- If you're already on the Canadian side and are just driving through, there is no (further) need to call Customs.
- For those who live on the US side of the street, there is a Port of Entry right down the road at Beebe Rd (about 1/3 mile from the farthest house on the U.S. side.

[Brian556]

Why would anybody build a street right on the border between two countries? That's what's stupid and absurd. Somebody's complete lack of common sense is what caused this problem.

[empirestate]

Why would anybody build a street right on the border between two countries? That's what's stupid and absurd. Somebody's complete lack of common sense is what caused this problem.

Wait, there's a common sense about building streets on international borders? I'm quite sure this is the only place I've ever even seen the topic arise.

[ghYHZ]

Why would anybody build a street right on the border between two countries? That's what's stupid and absurd. Somebody's complete lack of common sense is what caused this problem.

I'm guessing there's been a road there since the 1700's.... but the border probably didn't affect your day to day life until 9-11 happened. From the article above "Neighbourhoods that once shared schools, sports facilities, doctors and churches in a kind of free-flowing human commerce have retreated to their own sides of the border"

It also goes on to say some Quebec residents were born in the Newport VT Hospital as it was the closest. (Similar situation in northern Maine where the Hospital was in Edmundston, New Brunswick)

[ghYHZ]

I grew up along the CAN/US Border. Most of the time no ID was even requested....neither a driver license or birth certificate....let alone a passport.

The border was there and you tolerated it but it didn't interfere with your life.......you might be back and forth a couple of time a day.  The community on the US side had a McDonalds before we did and it was quite common to load us kids in the car and head over for a McHappy Meal or for a treat in the evening. We had the hockey rink on our side and our minor hockey team was about a 50/50 split of US/Canadian players. When we had practice at 7am on a Saturday morning they were here too except it was 6am to them........the Atlantic/Eastern Time Zone ran down the middle of the river. Even municipal services such as fire protection and the water supply were shared.

[kalvado]

Ona similar note - I wonder what is the history over here?
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.9946774,-90.008524,18z

[1995hoo]

I grew up along the CAN/US Border. Most of the time no ID was even requested....neither a driver license or birth certificate....let alone a passport.

The border was there and you tolerated it but it didn't interfere with your life.......you might be back and forth a couple of time a day.  The community on the US side had a McDonalds before we did and it was quite common to load us kids in the car and head over for a McHappy Meal or for a treat in the evening. We had the hockey rink on our side and our minor hockey team was about a 50/50 split of US/Canadian players. When we had practice at 7am on a Saturday morning they were here too except it was 6am to them........the Atlantic/Eastern Time Zone ran down the middle of the river. Even municipal services such as fire protection and the water supply were shared.

I recall the McDonald's in Calais, Maine, having double-width cash register drawers when we stopped there in 1989 on the way back from a Boy Scout trip to the jamboree on PEI. If you paid with Canadian money, that's what you got in change. Same for US money. Made sense to me.

[ghYHZ]

I recall the McDonald's in Calais, Maine, having double-width cash register drawers .........

The Calais McDonalds ......that's the one I'm talking about!

Same in the cafeteria at Jays Peak VT (near Canusa St)..... Here you can almost cross the border if you get a good downhill speed up.

I remember crossing at North Troy VT/Highwater QC a few years ago .......a sleepy little Border Post on Route 243 (same # in both QC & VT) and a shortcut back to Autoroute 10 returning from Jay Peak.

Best way to describe the Canadian CBSA Officer was "Boarder Dude"  as in "Snow Boarder". He saw our skis and was very professional in his questioning........but after that just wanted to talk skiing and that day's snow conditions until the next car showed-up in line behind us.   

[bmorrill]

When we lived in Michigan in the early 1960s, Canadian and American coins were used interchangeably near the border. If you bought something you got change back with whichever country's coins came out of the register. Now, we discounted Canadian bills (and vice-versa), but coinage circulated at par.

[oscar]

Ona similar note - I wonder what is the history over here?
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.9946774,-90.008524,18z

Don't know about the history, but the Mississippi/Tennessee line (or state lines in general) just aren't nearly as big a deal as international borders.

The NV/UT line runs right through the Border Inn on US 50. There's a whole lot of nothing for miles around, so the site selection was not probably accidental. Gas pumps and most other services on the Utah side, slots and maybe a bar on the Nevada side. In Bristol TN/VA (site of a recent semi-amusing GEICO commercial), the state line used to run through the hospital, with patient beds on both sides of the line. I'm sure it was a PITA to be subject to the licensing regulations of two states, so no surprise that when the hospital had to be replaced, the new facility was built entirely within Tennessee.

[7/8]

I recall the McDonald's in Calais, Maine, having double-width cash register drawers .........

The Calais McDonalds ......that's the one I'm talking about!

Same in the cafeteria at Jays Peak VT (near Canusa St)..... Here you can almost cross the border if you get a good downhill speed up.

I remember crossing at North Troy VT/Highwater QC a few years ago .......a sleepy little Border Post on Route 243 (same # in both QC & VT) and a shortcut back to Autoroute 10 returning from Jay Peak.

Best way to describe the Canadian CBSA Officer was "Boarder Dude"  as in "Snow Boarder". He saw our skis and was very professional in his questioning........but after that just wanted to talk skiing and that day's snow conditions until the next car showed-up in line behind us.   

My family used the same border crossing twice when we took day trips to Jay Peak from Eastman, QC. We found the border guards nice too. Being allowed to used CAD at Jay Peak with proof of Canadian citizenship is also a big plus (we might not have gone otherwise with the exchange rate).