There is an annual event on the St Clair river between lake St Clair and Lake Huron. Thousands of Americans and Canadians enter the river mouth on inner tubes of all shapes and sizes as well as other more boaty contraptions and have a big ass float party down the river. They then, presumably, all wade over to the correct side of the river and go home. The borders are an illusion.
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There are specific rules around water borders that take things like this into consideration. If I’m not mistaken, as long as you’re not between two US land masses (like between two points) or going ashore in the US, you’re okay. So if they don’t go into a bay (for example) on the other side you don’t need to worry about anything.
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My point is that any of those thousands of rafters can simply wade to the opposite side they entered from upstream and are now in a country they are not cleared to be in. I’m not so much pointing out law but rather reality.
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They tell us that we are free people, and they can shroud their activity in whatever terms they want (safety, fighting smugglers), but we are all just sheep being held in our master’s pens.
Oh I know. I was mostly putting on my nerd hat, since it’s about the only piece of border law I know.
There’s lot of places around here that I could cross the border without even knowing it. It’s easy to get turned around in the mountains.
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Large freighters navigate the St. Clair river. One does not simply wade across it.
In 2016 high winds blew about 1500 Americans to Canada, many of them over-refreshed and hypothermic, without passports, ID, money, life jackets, or clothing. A major operation by
"the Sarnia Police Service, Sarnia Fire Department, Lambton EMS, Ontario Provincial Police, Canada Customs and Border Agency, RCMP and Canada Coastguard water units, Sarnia Transit, Canadian Red Cross, security and fire personnel from the various chemical and petrochemical plants that border the St. Clair River, and members of the general public” (Detroit Free Press)
managed to rescue them all, load them onto buses, and ship them back to US Customs and Immigration.
The threats of heavy fines and jail time served to keep the crowds down in 2020, when the border was closed. You can bet that the RCMP, Canadian Coast Guard, and others were watching. The borders are very real.
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thousands of people per year and the US and Canadian federal governments both disagree with you. The zone is closed to all traffic including the freighters during the Float event:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/08/03/2020-16538/safety-zone-port-huron-float-down-st-clair-river-port-huron-mi
That event takes place every year since 2009 and is basically unstoppable. Just like with many critical mass bicycle rides, the authorities have come to the realization that it can not be controlled and there is no organizing body behind it to attack so they just roll with it. It has been going on for many years and there is absolutely no way to police what shore people end up on. Regardless of what happened one year where it was obvious that all participants ended up on one shore due to wind.
Covid was the actual reason most people did not do the float in 2020 since the threats of fines and jail have been in place every other year.
I’m aware of the shutdown for the event.
The depth of the St. Clair River is 20ft (6m) or more. Either you are taller than you appear in your photo or you have a different definition of “wade” than most of us use.
Well of course COVID was the issue. That’s why the fines and penalties were enhanced and the authorities were prepared to enforce them, rather than turning a blind eye as in other years.
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Nuh-uh! I have checked my atlas, and very clearly they are a physical reality, separating where the ground is orange from where it is green.
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When we’ve waded into swimming-definition pedantry, the discussion has clearly washed out.
