Canadian TV crews denied entry into U.S. by fickle Immigration border guards

Canadian broadcasters being unfairly harassed and denied entry into the United States want the American ambassador to Canada to press his government into reigning in its border officials. Broadcasters and unions say crews have been prevented from entering the U.S. to make documentaries when U.S. Customs staff decided that the productions were not non-fiction. In at least one case, Canadian broadcasters had to buy footage from U.S. producers after being refused entry to film an event. In late July, several Canadian groups, including the Canadian Independent Film Caucus, Canadian Independent Camera Association, Canadian Media Guild, Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Unions of Canada, and others complained in a letter to U.S. ambassador Gordon Giffin about their treatment, and said "only Canadian representatives of foreign media are being prevented from entering the United States in this manner. Those from other countries are permitted entry to the U.S. because of the strange and unfair application of your law. "The appropriate non-immigrant visa designation (the "I visa") for foreign information media permits the entry of: an alien who is a bona fide representative of foreign press, radio, film or other foreign information media." According to the U.S. government guidelines, this definition includes media reporters, media film crews, video tape editors and persons in similar occupations as well as other media to disseminate information or news, so long as it won’t be used primarily for a commercial, entertainment or advertising purpose. "Canadian representatives of foreign media are prevented from entering pursuant to these provisions because the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), on the Canadian border, has determined that information programming and documentaries all fall within the ambit of commercial entertainment," the groups said. They claim reporters and camera crews working on news and documentary projects have been denied entry to the U.S. "on countless occasions". For example, a Toron-to documentary crew was recently travelling to a U.S. Airforce base to shoot an infor-mational piece on nuclear weapons for the CBC. INS at Pearson International Airport denied the journalist and his crew entry, and the documentary had to be abandoned. Deciding what is and isn’t news The broadcasters and union members say the rules are being imposed arbitrarily by INS agents. They point to the example of an executive producer who tried to enter the U.S to cover a conference on human sexuality taking place in New York City. While a cameraman and a producer were admitted by one INS officer, the executive producer was denied entry to the U.S. by another officer. The second INS officer decided the story was not news, although the same story appeared on CNN the following day. "(The) INS is stifling the free flow of information and news, and ultimately freedom of the press. It is imperative that Canadians have the ability to report news, factual programming and current events from our own perspective. Some of our members have independently attempted to approach the INS as well as U.S. consular officials. Discussions have been held with Canadian government officials both in Ottawa and at the Canadian Embassy in Washington," the group writes. "While all parties are sympathetic and all agree something must be done, it has been to no avail. INS officials state that they are waiting for clarification from superiors, but while waiting are denying entry. We are frustrated and tired of this wait and this negative approach. "United States documentary crews and informational media are permitted expeditious access to Canada. While we have no quarrel with our American colleagues and are in favour of their admission to Canada in the manner in which they have been permitted, we cannot countenance our denial of entry to the United States any longer," the group states.

Canadian TV crews denied entry into U.S. by fickle Immigration border guards

Broadcast | August 17, 2000

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