Traveling to Canada be careful their Customs might take your knives.

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snapshot2017

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Jan 28, 2017
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Not only do you have to deal with Canada's knife laws, you need to understand how Canada's Custom treats folding knives.

American knife Mfg's stopped shipping to Canada, as they now classify them a gravity or auto by flipping opening knives just read article in August Blade Magazine.

The dealers in Canada can sell the knives in stock, but they can't receive any new knives, as no Mfg. wants Canada's Custom to just take them and not returning or repaying the Mfg.

Canada just like the UK are very knife unfriendly country.
 
I travel to Canada on a fairly regular basis and have never had a problem. What are you basing this information on?
 
I went there in June and packed my Spyderco Dragonfly Salt in my suitcase with no issues. Flew into Toronto and transferred to Calgary.
 
There's been a lot written here on this issue in the past few months, might be worth searching the forum. :thumbsup:
 
eisman said:
I travel to Canada on a fairly regular basis and have never had a problem. What are you basing this information on?
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He’s right. There are new border laws about importing knives that mean basically any folding knife that can be opened one handed in one movement (including wrist) can potentially be confiscated.

So far the law has been very patchy about how it is enforced. The law was just put into effect less than a year ago. Many times a knife will get through but it is within their ability to confiscate if they want to.

Fixed blades or slip joints and friction folders are a non issue.

Here is the publcation put out by the CBSA

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/cn-ad/cn18-01-eng.html
 
Lapedog said:
He’s right. There are new border laws about importing knives that mean basically any folding knife that can be opened one handed in one movement (including wrist) can potentially be confiscated.

So far the law has been very patchy about how it is enforced. The law was just put into effect less than a year ago. Many times a knife will get through but it is within their ability to confiscate if they want to.

Fixed blades or slip joints and friction folders are a non issue.

Here is the publcation put out by the CBSA

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/cn-ad/cn18-01-eng.html
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It's not a law. It's the CBSA's new policy due to a faulty interpretation of Canadian knife law by the CITT. They are a quasi judicial trade tribunal that cannot make new laws.
 
Lapedog said:
You’re right, it’s not a law. It is policy of the border agency overstepping its authority.
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"Overstepping its authority" Is a good way to put it. Hopefully we will be able to force them to step back soon!
 
If anything, it just means that Victorinox and Swiza are about to see huge jumps in sales from Canada soon.
 
I believe it's the border crossings that are the problem spot for knives. More reason to carry a fixed blade!
 
I am not sure why the CBSA is allowed to make a decision based on faulty interpretation of the law, but here we are. It's unfortunate but I don't see a reversal in the CBSA decision anytime soon, especially in our current socio-political climate.

Although I think the NRA is rather extreme, I have to admit that I now understand why such a lobbyist is need to protect such rights (look how quickly taking away gun rights came up after the Danforth shooting). Without a vocal minority these changes can be made and those that it affects go unheard.
 
Darkera said:
I am not sure why the CBSA is allowed to make a decision based on faulty interpretation of the law, but here we are. It's unfortunate but I don't see a reversal in the CBSA decision anytime soon, especially in our current socio-political climate.

Although I think the NRA is rather extreme, I have to admit that I now understand why such a lobbyist is need to protect such rights (look how quickly taking away gun rights came up after the Danforth shooting). Without a vocal minority these changes can be made and those that it affects go unheard.
Click to expand...

how is the NRA rather extreme?
do they don black hoodies and masks and attend rallies with rocks and sticks and knives or maybe stand outside voting centers with baseball bats ?
do they intimidate the average citizen into following their agenda through political and economic strong arming and manipulation?

funny I have never seen that from the NRA.
 
The issues I have with the OP are:

1. Canada's knife laws - as stated above CBSA's new policy is not a law. It is an agency policy, and as such, open to legal contention.

2. How Canadian Custom's treats folding knives - (spelling corrected) - As I have stated, I do actually travel to Canada and have never seen an issue at the border with regards as to knives. Guns are another issue entirely.

3. American knife Mfg's (have) stopped shipping to Canada - I'd like to see some actual numbers on this, not just a general, unsupported, statement. I know GEC and Cold Steel have not stopped shipments. I honestly doubt any major manufacturer has. They may have removed some models from their offerings across the boarder, but I haven't seen anything that proves that either. Schrade didn't stop making knives when the "switchblade" laws started getting passed, and I honestly doubt any company making a profit in selling knives in Canada is going to stop entirely when, in fact, no laws are being broken. AKTI (American Knife and Tool Institute - check them out) states, "U.S. knife companies export nearly $40 million in products to Canada annually, which accounts for nearly 5 percent of the industry’s gross annual revenue." Nobody gives up millions of dollars in revenue without a challenge.

4. The dealers in Canada can sell the knives in stock, but they can't receive any new knives - again, this issue only applies to specific designs, and the OP's statement is too broad and unsubstantiated. Flat out, it's wrong.

5. Canada, just like the UK, is very knife unfriendly country - (punctuation and spelling corrected) - There is a huge difference between the LAWS in Great Britain and those of Canada.
 
ponykid said:
how is the NRA rather extreme?
do they don black hoodies and masks and attend rallies with rocks and sticks and knives or maybe stand outside voting centers with baseball bats ?
do they intimidate the average citizen into following their agenda through political and economic strong arming and manipulation?

funny I have never seen that from the NRA.
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I consider some of their views extreme (e.g. their aversity to background checks), I didn't say they are violent extremists.
 
eisman said:
The issues I have with the OP are:
3. American knife Mfg's (have) stopped shipping to Canada - I'd like to see some actual numbers on this, not just a general, unsupported, statement. I know GEC and Cold Steel have not stopped shipments. I honestly doubt any major manufacturer has. They may have removed some models from their offerings across the boarder, but I haven't seen anything that proves that either. Schrade didn't stop making knives when the "switchblade" laws started getting passed, and I honestly doubt any company making a profit in selling knives in Canada is going to stop entirely when, in fact, no laws are being broken. AKTI (American Knife and Tool Institute - check them out) states, "U.S. knife companies export nearly $40 million in products to Canada annually, which accounts for nearly 5 percent of the industry’s gross annual revenue." Nobody gives up millions of dollars in revenue without a challenge.
Click to expand...
I will soon be ordering a knife from an American dealer. I inquired with them about their experience with the recent CBSA change etc and they said they sent a nice detailed email including, "We haven’t had any reports of problems so far and as far as I know all the knives have made it through without incident", and "In the twenty years that we have been shipping knives to Canada we have had a couple packages that they didn’t allow into the country and they were safely returned to us, it just took a while."

I agree with the rest of your post too. And while Canada's knife and self defense laws are lacking, we are certainly not like the UK.
 
eisman said:
The issues I have with the OP are:

1. Canada's knife laws - as stated above CBSA's new policy is not a law. It is an agency policy, and as such, open to legal contention.

2. How Canadian Custom's treats folding knives - (spelling corrected) - As I have stated, I do actually travel to Canada and have never seen an issue at the border with regards as to knives. Guns are another issue entirely.

3. American knife Mfg's (have) stopped shipping to Canada - I'd like to see some actual numbers on this, not just a general, unsupported, statement. I know GEC and Cold Steel have not stopped shipments. I honestly doubt any major manufacturer has. They may have removed some models from their offerings across the boarder, but I haven't seen anything that proves that either. Schrade didn't stop making knives when the "switchblade" laws started getting passed, and I honestly doubt any company making a profit in selling knives in Canada is going to stop entirely when, in fact, no laws are being broken. AKTI (American Knife and Tool Institute - check them out) states, "U.S. knife companies export nearly $40 million in products to Canada annually, which accounts for nearly 5 percent of the industry’s gross annual revenue." Nobody gives up millions of dollars in revenue without a challenge.

4. The dealers in Canada can sell the knives in stock, but they can't receive any new knives - again, this issue only applies to specific designs, and the OP's statement is too broad and unsubstantiated. Flat out, it's wrong.

5. Canada, just like the UK, is very knife unfriendly country - (punctuation and spelling corrected) - There is a huge difference between the LAWS in Great Britain and those of Canada.
Click to expand...

If you go on ZT’s website for instance you will see many models that just last year shipped to Canada no problem now say “will not ship to Canada”. Not only ZT, lots of major manufacturers are no longer shipping to Canada. It seems like alot of the manufacturers a have interpreted it as a ban on the import of flippers in particular. It used to be one could just tighten the pivot until the knife could barely open and that would get virtually any non auto or bali across, not anymore.

As has been stated the enforcement is very patchy so just because you have gotten your folding knife through doesn’t mean they don’t have a policy which allows them to confiscate it if they decide to. There are plenty of threads on this very forum where canadian members complain about the knives they ordered being confiscated at the border.
 
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