General Information

Border Crossing Information

What you are allowed to bring into Canada:

You are allowed, per person, 1 litre (32oz) of alcohol or 1 case of 24 beer, 1 carton of cigarettes, a reasonable amount of food for the number people vacationing, along with personal clothing and fishing equipment.

What you are not allowed to bring into Canada:

You cannot bring into the country live bait in water, worms packed in earth, hand guns and unregistered firearms or mace and pepper spray. Vegetables grown in your garden will be allowed if there is no visible sign of dirt. All fruits and vegetables are to be in the packages they came in from the store. (potatoes in the bag)

DUI Charges and Other Issues:

Our Canadian Immigration and Visitor regulations restrict persons with convictions that would be considered criminal charges in Canada to enter Canada. If you have had a DUI (driving under the influence) charge against you, and if it shows up on your records in the US (which can be accessed by our Customs & Immigration officers through co-operative agreements between the US and Canada) then you may be denied entry to Canada. Random checks are common. Changes to these restrictions have been made. A person with a one time offence that did not result in jail time is now allowed entry to Canada, with no application or fees.

We suggest you communicate with a Canadian Immigration office prior to your planned trip if you have a criminal record.

Alcohol in the Car or Boat:

DO NOT BRING OPEN ALCOHOL IN THE BOAT or DRIVE THE BOAT WITH ALCOHOL IN YOUR SYSTEM: Ontario has the most strict alcohol laws in North America. If you are driving the boat and you are over .08% or have open alcohol in the boat, you will be arrested. It’s a minimum $1000 fine, criminal record and a lifetime offender registration. Your driver’s license will be taken away (right then and there) for 15 months automatically. Other states and provinces will honor these charges. Between .05% and .08% is a 3-day license suspension and a $150 fine. ZERO OPEN ALCOHOL IN YOUR BOAT OR IN YOUR BLOOD !!!!

A police officer from the Ontario Provincial Police and a game warden from the Ministry of Natural Resources do fly into remote lakes and taxi right up to your boat to check for any illegal activity whether it’s drinking in the boat or being over your fish limits. These guys are very very serious and do not show any compassion. You have been warned.

Lets all have tons of fun, catch lots of fish but save your drinking for around the campfire.

How Alcohol Works:

The end result of drinking alcohol makes your brain drunk but alcohol itself does not make you drunk; your liver makes you drunk.

The rate in which your liver metabolizes alcohol dictates how drunk you feel; not the amount of alcohol in your blood. When your liver metabolizes alcohol it produces chemicals that block or distort the functions of neural transmitters in your brain. If you feel drunk and then have a big meal, you give yourself the elusion that you have become sober but in fact you have just slowed down the metabolism process and the alcohol will stay in your system longer. You are just fooling yourself. Only time gets alcohol out of your blood. The amount of food in your stomach and the health of your liver greatly affect the speed in which alcohol is removed from your system. That is why a teenager with a healthy young liver can get drunk on one beer while an older man, who has been drinking for years and has compromised the health of his liver, needs to drink much more to feel drunk.

Over 0.08 has nothing to do with feeling tipsy or drunk. If a 200 pound man drinks two 5% Canadian beers he will be over .08 for at least 45 minutes, even if he feels no affects of the alcohol. A stomach full of food means much longer than 45 minutes.

Outside of the metabolism process, alcohol itself still numbs nerve endings and will greatly affect reaction time. Even if you feel sober your ability to react has been compromised, even if you do not realize it.