Crews turned back at border

April 5, 1999 Playback Staff Share

The problems experienced by some Canadian production crews in attempting to cross the u.s. border continue unabated and are likely the result of more thorough application of existing immigration guidelines which distinguish between news and entertainment production categories, say u.s. Immigration and Naturalization Service officials.

Crews and producers representing the independent production community and the commercial production industry say that problems gaining access to the u.s. for Canadian shoots began almost a year ago and continue to escalate.

‘It was something that was starting to happen with increasing frequency, so as a business association we started to take a serious look at it,’ says Don Purser, head of the Canadian Independent Camera Association.

Purser says instances have increased over the past year, particularly in the past three to four months, and that among the crews blocked at the border have been those working on corporate, documentary, sports and other projects.

The cica is currently conducting a survey to determine the scope of the problem.

Several industry members say the number of affected productions is far greater than the 30 to 40 cases previously reported. ‘It’s rampant,’ says John Ferguson from Toronto equipment supplier Cinequip. ‘There was a time when we were hearing of a new person every day that had been hit.’

Winston Barrus, Deputy District Director in the ins Buffalo District (which oversees the Toronto border), says there has been no mandate to restrict Canadian crews, rather, he says, in recent months there has been a ‘heightened awareness’ at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport regarding entry category qualifications.

The u.s. Immigration Act, which dates back to 1952, stipulates several categories which govern travel to the u.s. to work on a non-permanent basis.

Category I applies to ‘Representatives of Information Media’ and allowing access to accredited journalists as well as to employees of independent production with credentials from a professional journalistic association working on a project for an information or news outlet, not for a commercial entertainment or advertising purpose.

‘There hasn’t been direction from any ins office, it’s a problem that’s been identified in Toronto,’ says Barrus. ‘It’s an internal problem that all the inspectors weren’t cognizant of the difference between the news media admission and entertainment industry admission under other categories. Now there is a more consistent application of the [1] category.’

Barrus says a newly trained crop of Immigration officers pointed out the inconsistencies in the application of the information media category.

Line blurred

Amy Otten, a spokesperson for the Eastern Regional Office of the ins, says there have been increasing problems at the Toronto airport resulting from improper accreditation and in making the distinction between news and entertainment categories.

‘It seems that a number of things have changed that have caused this to become a bigger issue,’ says Otten. ‘One is the growth of the film industry in Toronto. Our Toronto people are saying they are seeing a lot more applications to start with.’

Otten also points to the increasingly blurred line between news and entertainment as a potential problem.

Those falling outside Category 1 may have to apply far in advance for the proper documentation to gain entry to shoot in the States. Entertainment and commercial producers, says Barrus, may fall under the H2 category, a temporary skilled worker category which involves a petition process that can take from 30 to 90 days.

Members of a crew from Toronto’s Stornaway Productions were recently turned away from the border at Pearson twice before assembling the necessary documentation to allow them to shoot in the u.s.

The company was working on a documentary project for Global called (ironically) Should I Stay or Should I Go?, dealing with Canada-to-u.s. brain drain.

Initially, the crew had presented letters from Global stating that the broadcaster had commissioned the one-hour special, that the crew was being paid in Canadian dollars, and other details.

After part of the crew was unsuccessful in gaining access to the u.s., the company tried a second and a third time to cross the border, finally succeeding after consulting an immigration lawyer and securing independent journalist accreditation and another letter from Global accrediting the project for its news department.

‘Because the project was an investigative piece, it was all real,’ says Stornaway’s Inta Erwin. ‘It was just a matter of getting the right pieces of paper.’

Purser and other members of the industry have already had conversations with Heritage Minister Sheila Copps and further meetings are planned in Ottawa on the subject.

Purser says his organization is looking to see changes in immigration legislation that take into account the growth and change in the industry over the past several years.

‘We’d like to see it headed toward a free-trade type of situation where we would be able to cross the border like other professionals,’ says Purser, pointing to the long-term ramifications of independent producers and camera people being denied access to the u.s.

‘Individually our members are looking at losing thousands of dollars, but there is a bigger picture,’ says Purser. That picture, he says, includes a huge budgetary hit for producers having to use u.s. crews at u.s. exchange rates, which in turn may mean being disqualified for Canadian top-up funds.

‘This is not just a camera person’s problem, it’s a problem for the entire industry,’ says Purser.

blog comments powered by Disqus

The definitive CDN broadcast and production resource.
Over 5,000 company listings!