A popular activity among Ontarians is to cross the border over to the United States at Niagara Falls and shop or tour the scenic area around the falls. But if a traveller has ever been convicted of a crime, such a leisurely trip can turn into a hellish nightmare when crossing the border. In theory, a standard called "moral turpitude" should be the guideline for American border agents to use when evaluating the admissibility of foreigners into the united States: in US law, aliens are prohibited from crossing the border if they have ever been convicted of a "crime involving moral turpitude", which is defined as an act that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals. This standard is so general and arbitrary that it can be applied to any crime, and in actual practice, border agents today do so regularly. Although in theory, something like a common assault or impaired driving conviction is not a crime involving moral turpitude, it has become routine for any person to be turned back at the border for even a trifling, long-forgotten conviction.

This can affect many Ontarians, as 10 to 15% of Canadians have a criminal record. Nevertheless, a lot of people have been crossing the US-Canada border for a long time without their conviction having been discovered. Formerly, border checks were not as stringent as today; travellers were rarely checked for criminal inadmissibility, or if it was discovered, minor convictions would be judged as admissible. But after the 9-11terrorist attacks, this has changed forever. Nowadays, many people who escaped discovery in the past are being caught when their names are checked against the criminal record database that the RCMP has made accessible to the US Department of Homeland Security. Anyone so caught can expect to be arrested, detained and ultimately turned away; one’s vehicle might even be seized and.

Criminal ineligibility can be overcome by two legal instruments: pardons and American waivers of inadmissibility. The one sure-fire way of overcoming the obstacle of criminal inadmissibility to the United States is to apply to the US Customs and Border Protection for a US entry waiver of inadmissibility. The application process does require getting together some official paperwork and paying a fee that is not negligible; however, once a waiver is granted, a person with a criminal record will have an unfettered opportunity to cross the border without any problems. Unfortunately, an American waiver is not permanent; it is issued only for a period of one, two or five years. There is another solution: applying for a pardon from the Parole Board of Canada. This involves even more bureaucracy process, but once a pardon is granted, a criminal conviction is removed permanently from the main criminal record database. However, in order for a pardoned criminal record not to show up at the border, one must not travel to the United States from when they were convicted to when the pardon is granted. Although a pardoned criminal record is removed from the electronic criminal record database of Canada (the very database that US border agents have access to), if someone travelled to the US before the pardon was granted, border guards may already have accessed the file, which would have been copied into American records and can now be retrieved at the border (it should also be borne in mind that Canadian pardons are not recognized in the US).

Whether a person decides to apply for a pardon (which they should do anyway, for their benefit in Canada) or a US waiver, an Ontario pardons agency will be able to do the entire application procedure on their behalf. These are time-consuming and complex processes, and should not be taken lightly.