I haven't been to Canada since 1998. When I was younger, I'd drive up to Montreal or Quebec City for the weekend to enjoy another culture. For the most part, crossing the border between the United States and Canada was a breeze. Friendly border agents would wave me past after asking but a few simple questions. They'd even smile. Those days are over.

Word has been getting out that Stephen Harper's Canada doesn't like Americans. Sure, the rumors that he had an intimate relationship with George Bush remain unproven, but the evidence demonstrates that Stephen Harper hates Americans at least as much as Bush does. Ever since Stephen Harper, Canada's very own neo-fascist leader, has been Prime Minister, the number of Americans turned away at the border has been increasing geometrically.

Take, for example, the married school teacher from Maine that attempted to take advantage of this past long weekend by planning a short trip up to Quebec City. He had hoped to photograph the beautiful city during leaf-peeping season. When he reached the border, Canadian gestapo ran his passport through the new system provided to them by our very own FBI. It turns out that when this middle-aged teacher was a teenager of about 18 years of age he was charged with a traffic violation that required him to appear in court. Like many teenagers, he was irresponsible then and didn't show up. That ancient act of not bowing to authority showed up in the FBI's NCIS database and this kind and honest school teacher was denied entry into Canada. No one knows why the FBI entered such trivial information into the NCIS. After all, it is supposed to contain information on major offenses, not infractions, but the FBI does screw up life for average Americans whenever it can.

A friend of mine shared with me the story of a couple she knows well. More than a decade ago, the couple was having marital problems. In the midst of a physical fight between the two of them, the police showed up, arrested both of them, and charged both of them with a domestic violence charge. The couple went to marriage counseling, worked out their problems, and are now a happy couple. They decided to take a second honeymoon by visiting Niagara Falls. When the stopped their car at the boarder post on entry to Canada, the Canadian border guard swiped their passports and read what the FBI had to say about the hubby and his wife. The report said that both of them were spouse batterers. Since Canadians are perfect and Americans are not, the Canadian border guard denied both of them entry, though the two were now a happy couple.

Canada claims that it bars only Americans convicted of crimes that it considers to be felonies from entering Canada. However, the evidence contradicts this. Some border guards have said that Stephen Harper's government has instructed them to turn away anyone and everyone listed in the NCIS regardless of the seriousness of their crime and regardless of how long ago that crime occurred. Under Canadian law, crimes such as "disorderly conduct" are summary offenses that do not bar Americans from entering Canada. According to the definition of the NCIS, crimes like "disorderly conduct" should not be entered into the NCIS database. Nevertheless, the FBI has been entering such convictions of protesters and dissidents into the NCIS and the Canadian border dingbats have been baring Americans from entry based on those entries. Take Ann Wright and Medea Benjamin of Code Pink as an example. The FBI blacklisted these two women from entering Canada by entering their non-qualifying protest related offenses into the NCIS. Canada then did it's fascist duty to the United States by baring these women entry on their way to Toronto on invitation of the Toronto Stop the War Coalition.

In addition to dissidents, elderly Americans convicted of smoking pot in the 1960s have been denied entry to Canada. Indeed, it appears that Canada would deny you entry for an overdue library book if the FBI entered such indiscretions in the NCIS. The fault for this misuse of the NCIS falls both with American law enforcement and with Stephen Harper's Canadian administration. Stephen Harper is blacklisting Americans from entering Canada with the cooperation of the FBI. As the Canadian people are responsible for putting Stephen Harper in office, the Canadian people are responsible for baring their neighbors entrance on such trivial grounds. This speaks strongly to Canadian hypocrisy. Canada is not the free society it claims to be.

Indeed, Canada has barred several famous visitors for what must be considered political reasons (under the cover of criminal exclusion): American professor Williams Ayers was denied entry to Canada earlier this year. He had come to Canada to give a lecture in Toronto at the invitation of the Centre for Urban Schooling at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Anti-war British MP George Galloway was denied entry to Canada, citing him as a threat to national security for his criticisms of Israeli policies towards Palestinians. In 2007, South African Winnie Mandela was denied entry to Canada. No reason for her exclusion was given.

Ordinary Americans have been denied entry to Canada for past offenses of driving under the influence. In fact, if you have a DUI or OUI on your record, don't even bother visiting Canada, even if you do not plan on driving there. Canada considers you unfit to walk amongst Canadians. Interestingly, Mr. Harper had absolutely no problem allowing war criminal George Bush to come and visit him in Canada, despite George Bush's DUI record. Mr. Cheney was able to visit too, despite two DUIs. In fact, he was allowed to visit after his terms as Vice President ended. This disparity in treatment proves that Canada's motives for denying entry are political and racial.

Take, for example, Canadian Suaad Hagi Mohamud. Ms. Mohamud traveled to Kenya to visit her ailing mother. Kenyan officials barred her from leaving the country when they thought her lips did not look exactly like the lips of her photo on her passport. Alerted to this, the Canadian government urged Kenya to arrest its own citizen and denied her assistance until an uproar over the incident arose in Canada. Ms. Mohamud was held for three months in a Kenyan jail because of the policies of neo-fascist Harper's government. Ms. Mohamud is not alone. Canadian Abousfian Abdelrazik was denied entry to his own country for six years simply because a foreign government accused him of being part of al-Qaeda, despite the fact that he was found innocent. Mohamud and Abdelrazik are not white.

Given Canada's turn towards fascist intolerance, it is time for Americans to refuse to visit Canada. Even if you don't refuse, you very well may be turned away for the most trivial of reasons, thus wasting your time and money. Don't reward a government that doesn't want you to visit by spending your hard earned money there. If you really want to visit a neighbor, try Mexico or the Caribbean instead.