I've been to Canada. It seemed to me that even in 1987 the Canadian Customs folks were overly concerned that I be aware of defending myself and especially not have anything I could use to defend myself. After the 10th time I was asked by the same guy if I had anything I could use to defend myself, I had to ask him why I needed to have something to defend myself in Canada. I asked him if it was really that dangerous there.
I was also wondering why in a fully loaded ferry only 3 vehicles were searched, 3 BMW motorcycles riden by folks who had bathed recently, dressed neatly and had short hair, well at least 2 of us. My buddy's wife Jean had long hair.
I felt very relieved to be back in the States after spending 3 days looking over my shoulder all the time in Canada expecting to see some reason I needed to defend myself.
Overall, later on I realized that the customs folks were most likely the ones I needed to be concerned with. Sad beginning to see a very beautiful part of the world. I still remember buchard (sp) gardens to this day.