Long weekend cross-border travel: What you need to know

The Civic Holiday long weekend is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year in Canada.

Falling right in the middle of summer road trip season, many Canadians will be headed south to the United States for a brief vacation.

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When it comes to crossing the border, what do you need to know?

CTV News Ottawa's Patricia Boal spoke to Charles Fisher, the Canada Border Services Agency's chief of operations at the Pigeon River and Thunder Bay ports of entry, for some tips on making your cross-border travel as smooth as possible.

The interview below has been lightly edited for clarity.

Patricia Boal: If people are stressing out about how much time it will take them to get across the border, there is a pretty simple step you can do before you head out.

Charles Fisher: CBSA publishes border wait times at the busiest ports of entry across Canada and there's a link right on the front page of the CBSA website, so if you're wondering how long the lineup is at a particular border crossing, you can look it up. They're updated hourly. If the lineup is too long at the place you're planning on going, you can do some quick math and maybe figure out if another border crossing would be faster for you.

Boal: Once you get up to the agent at the border, what can you do as a traveller to ensure everything goes smoothly?

Fisher: The biggest thing is to be prepared. Have those travel documents ready to be presented, be prepared to declare all of the goods that you're bringing with you … goods you purchased while you're outside of Canada and are bringing back; have your receipts ready. Be prepared to answer all the questions that the officer at the booth is going to ask. The more prepared everybody can be, the faster and more efficient the process is going to be?

Boal: Are there any exceptions to crossing the land borders with a passport?

Fisher: A passport or other citizenship document — that could be a permanent resident card — or people who don't have a passport who were born in Canada, if they have a photo ID along with a birth certificate. Individuals who have other documents, such as a Nexus cards or Status cards as well would be accepted.

Boal: If you are one parent travelling across the border with your kids, do you need to have any documentation from the other parent saying this is okay, or is that only an exceptional situation?

Fisher: If both parents aren't going to be travelling at the same time with the child, it's always good to have a letter from the other parent to show the officer with contact information so that we can contact the absent parent if needed. If you are travelling with children when there are no parents present, maybe you're bringing your kid and their friend for a weekend getaway, make sure you have something from their parents just indicating that they're aware the child is leaving the country, they're in your care, and they can be contacted, if needed.

Boal: I remember travelling with kids and saying, "Put that apple back in the cooler as we're going across the border," because I'm not sure what's allowed in terms of fruits and vegetables. Are you nitty-gritty about that kind of thing?

Fisher: There's a variety of different things that are not allowed to come back to Canada. If you go to travel.gc.ca, you'll find information on goods that are prohibited. It's always good to check ahead. There are a lot of different rules about agricultural products and food products, in addition to things like cannabis products that can't be brought across the border, even if they were purchased legally, or things like firewood and fishing bait.

Boal: Charles, thank you very much. I hope it goes smoothly for you this weekend.

Fisher: It's the last big weekend of the summer. I'm looking forward to it. It should be pretty smooth sailing for the most part and we're well prepared.