Peace Bridge — Attraction in Town of Tonawanda

The wait going into the states (coming from canada) wasn't too bad. Maybe had 10 cars around 4:30 pm on July 16th, 2024. The first officer was rude and very power tripped. I don't have a passport but had all my id's and birth certificate for the absence of said passport which we made sure in advance (2 months before we left) that we were able to cross the border. Also didnt like that we were going to the states to explore (I've never been there and it was nice to go with my in laws :)) My father in law handed both issues of id of everyone that was in the vehicle and declared we had a bearded dragon (we searched that up aswell and was told by fish and wildlife that there was no requirement for paperwork for our bearded dragon) when my father in law gave him our id's he belittled us for not having a passport and was very determined on stating we could not go into the states without one. Shoved the id's back into my father in laws hands and stated that my birth certificate wasn't a birth certificate (it is one of the new versions but at the same he should have known or been up to date with any id shape or form looks like) once we declared bearded dragon he called his superior officer which right off the bat truly showed ugly a border officer can act. Stated that we didn't have papers for him and needed papers in advance saying he could cross the border) told us to pull to the side and exit the the vehicle (luckily they didn't tear the vehicle apart like I've in some reviews I'm sorry you guys dealt with that) brought the bearded dragon inside because there was no signs stating we couldn't and the fact that they told us to go inside so we didn't want to "cause any more issues" we were called up and then my mother In law (that's was holding our bearded dragon) got screamed at to go outside and said "dont bring that thing in here ,go sit out by the van,other people dont want to see those creatures in here" (obviously very biased and showing how nasty her true colours are) had to fill out a "fish and wildlife form" and told we had to do that everytime. (We emailed fish and wildlife that night - got a response a few days after stating we truly did not have to do that and don't have to do that future wise. Few minutes later she asked if we were taking him out in public and my father In law was utterly shocked and Said "maybe, I'm not sure, we bring him out so he can explore too" (keep in mind this bearded dragon has crossed the border 6 times prior to this incident and never had an issue) she scoffed and gave a disgusted look and stated that the only reason were bringing him over is that we're looking for attention (this trip was 2 weeks and we couldn't leave him alone at home for obvious reasons) I'm sorry if this was hard to read, it triggered flight and fight responses in everyone in our vehicle (that says something due to my father in law being a pilot) anyways the bridge itself with traffic A-okay but the officers truly showed why I don't like people and...

I am a Canadian citizen married to an American citizen, we drove 11 hours to Canada with our 3 children all 5 and under to visit immediate family. They would not allow my husband in because he is an unvaccinated US citizen. We did the ArriveCan and had a negative Covid test as well as a quarantine plan, all the same steps as we took the previous year(July 2021 he was allowed entry). ArriveCan asked for vaccination status and he put no, but it did not say anything about US citizens not being able to enter while he was filling out the form ( no alerts or flags saying he couldn’t enter). We did not hear the announcement about US citizens not being able to enter or we wouldn’t have drove that far. When we arrived we made the tough decision for me to continue to visit my family since they had not met my 6 month old yet, my husband was turned around at the border and drove 11 hours back home. I had to explain this to my children and they were very confused as to why he couldn’t visit too. Needless to say, I am very disappointed that this country would separate my family, with no risk of Covid, since we had negative tests, and a plan to quarantine. Very very discouraging. My husband may never be able to go back to Canada with me as long as this rule is in place. It’s not even the vaccine that is an issue, it’s the fact that these countries are separating families over it, while the people trying to visit with negative tests are at 0 risk of spreading the disease. Never thought it would get to this point. (ArriveCan also makes unvaccinated Canadian citizens living in the US test 3 times and quarantine for 14 days, just for some perspective on the measures we were willing to take and...

Crossed over into Canada and into the US both using this bridge and point of entry.

Lines for crossing into the US took much longer, probably a half hour, though once we were up to the checkpoint, the lady was pretty easy to deal with and didn't give us any grief. I am a US citizen, maybe that's why.

Canadian Border patrol was much worse. Guy was pretty stone faced. He didn't like the idea that one of our passengers had a medical Marijuana card (as if we were wanting to come in for their low quality overly priced weed), and on my own bad account I'd had box cutters from my workplace. We were searched, and they'd went through the car pretty hard, left bags open, and made it pretty uncomfortable. Obviously, they found nothing and let us on our way.

Both had their pros and cons, being opposite of one another ironically.

Recommendation is to be prepared for a potential wait. Ensure your car has no food, weapons, drugs, alcohol. Have passports and IDs at the ready. Hand over them immediately, answer honestly, and if searched, follow all directions. Pull into lane, step out of car, leave all belongings and empty pockets into car and let them search from a safe distance where they instruct. When finished you'll be let onward.

It's fairly quick and easy, once...