Security vendetta from the north: Is Canada trying to tell us something?

Two Sundays ago, I boarded an Air Canada flight from Quebec to Toronto. After going through standard screening procedures (bags through X-ray, me through magnetometer), I was comforted by the uniformity and business like way that our northern cousins conducted air security. Just another flight, just another screening. Then, I landed in Toronto and everything changed.

As I left the plane, I was informed that I would pass through U.S. Customs here in Canada before heading to New York City. I found this to be convenient. After picking up my bags from the carousel and receiving a perfunctory set of questions from the Customs officer, I headed to the next area and was surprised that I had to rescreen. My surprise was that the screening was taking place immediately after leaving the customs area. My path would not have permitted me to leave the secure areas of the airport and I had just been screened in Quebec. Sure, I had passed shops selling duty free items and other sundries, but surely there was no bomb making materials there, were there?

Oh well, so the Canadians are being extra cautious, good for them. This thought disappeared however, half an hour later when I was still waiting in line. To characterize this screening as interesting does not do it justice. The procedure here was different from any other I had been through in the United States or in Europe. The lines were not that long but there was an individual search of every passenger.

I was greeted by a pleasant woman who asked for my boarding card, and then walked away with it. This was disquieting because if she were to somehow misplace it, I was not getting on the plane. I removed my outerwear and shoes took out my laptop, along with my pager, and placed it on the belt to go into the X-ray machine. I then stepped through the magnetometer. With the exception of taking my boarding card, standard operating procedure.

When I emerged from the magnetometer to retrieve my items, I was subjected to additional searching. I was instructed to turn on my laptop. I had not had this request in years. This is curious because why put the computer through the X-ray machine? I was then asked to open my briefcase, which, had also gone through the X-ray machine. The officer then went through my papers! This had never been done before over the 30-something flights I had taken in the past year. But then came the most bizarre request. I was instructed to place both hands in my pockets and rub them up and down, and then take them out with my palms up. Where upon, the officer wiped them with a cloth, ostensibly to pick up any traces of explosive residue, which might detect an underwear explosive. As bizarre and unique as this was, this same wipe was not done on my coat, briefcase or laptop. In addition, the officer did not place the cloth into any machine for analysis. This procedure was done to every passenger, which is why the line was so long.

Finally, I was given back my boarding card and permitted to go. During this entire process, not one official ever looked me in the eye. When I asked the bored looking officer what she was looking for in the briefcase, she said, “I don’t know. They just told us to do this.”