For over a century, the longest international border in the world has been virtually unprotected. The 5,525-mile boundary between the U.S. and Canada is demarcated mostly by a strip of cleared forest — nicknamed the Slash — or low stone monuments, typically markers of good neighborliness and trust.
But right now, some Canadians don't feel that trust.
First, President Donald Trump offended northern neighbors with unprovoked comments about annexing Canada. Then, reports started circulating of Canadians and Europeans detained for days by American customs and immigration officers. An April travel advisory from the Canadian government told travelers to "expect scrutiny" from U.S. border agents, who have "significant discretion" at ports of entry.
Plus, in March, the "Buy Canadian" movement started gaining momentum — a push to purchase Canadian-made products to boycott the on-again, off-again tariffs laid out by Trump. It's a new tune for the States' largest trading partner that imported nearly $350 billion worth of American products in 2024.
The new atmosphere has created an emotional chilling effect for tourists. Combined with a slightly weaker Canadian dollar, some Canadians are thinking twice before heading south.
Spokane has just started to feel those effects. Visit Spokane and Best of Broadway by WestCoast Entertainment have both been contacted by Canadians who are canceling plans or no longer booking summer road trips to Eastern Washington. Canadians make up at least 5% of Spokane tourists. Losing those visitors could renew struggles for an entertainment district finally bouncing back from pandemic restrictions.
Immigration experts say that Canadians have nothing to fear while traveling in the U.S. and that common best practices can help people cross the border without issue. But if they have the option, plenty of Canadians are choosing to stay on their side of the Slash for now.
THROWIN' AWAY THEIR SHOT
So far, more than 4.5 million tickets have been sold for Hamilton since it opened in 2015. The hit show about the immigrant American founding father has grossed over $1 billion in sales in almost 10 years.
Thousands are still flocking to see it every week. Nationally, more than 10,000 tickets were sold between April 7 and April 13 alone — that's close to 98% of all tickets available.
Best of Broadway by WestCoast Entertainment brought Hamilton back to the First Interstate Center for the Arts in Spokane this year for 16 performances from April 8 through April 20. Despite national averages for ticket sales holding relatively steady, tickets for the Spokane show sold below expectations.
"Hamilton is obviously a monster driver of tourism and brings a lot of people into town," says Justin Kobluk, president of WestCoast Entertainment. "Our numbers have been a little soft, and we're trying to understand why. We're finding that normally we get between 5% and 10% of our ticket sales from Canada ... a lot of our [current] numbers are not normal numbers coming from Canada."
Spokane is the biggest entertainment district in the Inland Northwest, including for plenty of small towns across the border in British Columbia. About 30% to 40% of Best of Broadway's ticket sales usually come from people outside a 50-mile radius of Spokane, Kobluk says, and 15% come from outside 100 miles.
Losing just 5% to 10% of normal ticket sales for a show with a $3 million budget can significantly hurt the bottom line of a production, Kobluk says, not to mention Spokane's future ability to attract other in-demand shows.
Not only are ticket sales down, but Kobluk has received at least half a dozen requests — very polite ones, he notes — for refunds from Canadian ticket holders.
Refunds are nearly nonexistent now, Kobluk says, since bots and scalpers redefined ticket sales by abusing refund clauses. Most theatergoers know that, but some folks believe this is a special circumstance.
"In solidarity with millions of other Canadians, I cannot cross the border into a country whose administration continues to threaten us with annexation," one refund requester wrote.
"The Spokane theatre is absolutely lovely and honestly one of the best places to see a good show," another wrote. "That said, I am hopeful you can help me. You can probably understand that it is a bit on the nose for us to attend a performance celebrating the birth of US democracy while the US government threatens to annex Canada, Greenland and conducts a trade war with our own country.
"Under such conditions we hope you understand we cannot be traveling to the US despite our appreciation for the generally wonderful residents of Washington state, Spokane or your wonderful theatre.
"Would it be possible to refund these tickets to the card used for the purchase? I understand this is not something the theatre has any obligation to do, however any accommodation you are willing to make in this situation would be very much appreciated."
Another requester was worried enough about entering the States that she already decided not to see Mamma Mia! in June — "I am now concerned about travelling to the USA, given the recent events and travel advisories about our safety crossing the border."
Kobluk said that these are not the special types of situations that require refunds, and he's spoken to each requester about how Hamilton encapsulates exactly the type of pro-immigrant and diversity sentiments that some are concerned about.
"When you're pulling dollars away from Hamilton, that's not the administration," he says. "As a matter of fact, [the show] is in solidarity with your beliefs ... but it's still travel to the United States, and that's the tough part."
ATTENTION!
One Canadian told Kobluk how disturbed she was that officers at the border could go through her phone at a port of entry. The Canadian government posted a travel advisory in April that drew attention to that possibility in a paragraph about entry requirements, which reads:
"Expect scrutiny at ports of entry, including of electronic devices. Comply and be forthcoming in all interactions with border authorities. If you are denied entry, you could be detained while awaiting deportation."
A recent episode of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s podcast Cross Country Checkup, a call-in radio show, also discussed the power of Customs and Border Protection officers. The episode titled "Are you worried about traveling to and from the U.S.?" was released on April 6 — just days after the travel advisory was released.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has had the power to search electronic devices for digital contraband like child pornography or classified materials, terrorism-related information, or data related to transnational financial crime for decades. Electronic searches have been rare — less than 0.1% of travelers arriving to the U.S. had their electronics searched in fiscal year 2024, which ended Sept. 30.
But Canada's reminder about electronic searches came a few weeks after the high-profile story of a Canadian detainee seriously eroded trust in American goodwill.
In March, Jasmine Mooney was detained by U.S. immigration for 12 days. The Canadian actress, who has no criminal history, was reapplying for a U.S. work visa at the southern border between Tijuana and San Diego. She had experience getting work visas at that popular port of entry before, and her immigration lawyer was based there, too.
Her visa application was unexpectedly denied. She was then sent to ICE detention centers in both Arizona and San Diego. Mooney told NPR that she was originally told to be prepared to stay in detention for months, but credits media attention for getting her out within two weeks.
Even though Mooney's detention happened at the southern border, her story instilled plenty of distrust for American officers on the northern border, too.
But Blair Hodgman, an immigration lawyer certified in both Canada and the U.S. who was featured on Cross Country Checkup's travel episode, thinks the general risk for most Canadians traveling to the U.S. is still low.
"You should use due caution when you travel to the States ... but I don't think it's necessary to cancel all your plans," she said in the episode. "I think that as long as you're straightforward at the border and you have a valid purpose and you don't have any issues in the past that could affect your admissibility, you should be able to travel to the States safely." ♦
BY THE NUMBERS
1,653
How many Canadians stopped by Spokane's Visitor Information Center in 2024
Visit Spokane can't keep track of every single tourist in Spokane, but they can count how many stop by the visitor center in Riverfront Park. Last year, 699 visitors came from Alberta, and 954 were from British Columbia. The visitor center welcomed about 35,000 tourists total, so Canadians made up about 5% of the total. The most traveled months were July, August and September.
4,690
How many people arrived in Washington through Metaline Falls in March 2025
The Metaline Falls port of entry is the closest to Spokane. Its traveler numbers for early 2025 have been similar to last year's counts. Meanwhile, the 24-hour port of entry at Frontier, Washington, saw 6,000 arrivals this March, down about 8% from 6,500 arrivals in March 2024. And arrivals through Porthill, Idaho, fell to 8,400 this March, down about 25% from 11,200 the same month a year ago.
But people don't just cross the border for tourism. For example, some Canadians close to the border have American P.O. boxes to save on shipping costs from American companies. Since arrival numbers don't illuminate why people are legally crossing the border, it's tricky to determine any tourism patterns from port of entry notes.
29
The maximum number of days Canadian tourists can stay in the U.S. without registering with the U.S. government
Any foreign national who's 14 years old or older now has to register with the U.S. government if they plan to be a tourist in the States for 30 days or more. This is especially surprising to Canadian snowbirds who have spent plenty of winters in Florida, Arizona or other warmer climates without being required to register before.
10 billion
How many dollars some economists think the "Buy Canadian" movement could add to the Canadian economy in one year
Yes, that's billion with a "b," according to economists at BMO, the Canadian bank and investment firm. That's not a huge percentage of the $350 billion that Canada imports from the U.S. every year, but it's certainly not nothing.
2017
The year the Penticton Peach Festival started sending its float to the Spokane Lilac Festival
The picturesque town of Penticton in British Columbia started advertising its peach festival at the Spokane Lilac Festival eight years ago. It sent a decked-out float and peach pageant princesses to join Miss Spokane and her royalty at the glamorous Armed Forces Torchlight parade.
But this year, Penticton's pageantry won't be at the parade due to concerns about crossing the border. It's one more slice of evidence that neighborly relations aren't quite peachy anymore.
