The black T-shirt calls for justice and democracy, but an American man on his way to Calgary for the G-8 summit says it nearly kept him out of Canada.
Paul Bame was stopped last week at a border crossing in Manitoba en route to Calgary to teach others about ecologically sound ways to live, and to protest peacefully during next week's meeting of world leaders in Kananaskis.
He said he had a letter from his Canadian hosts explaining he was coming here as a guest speaker. But when an immigration officer searched his 1992 Honda Civic and spotted the T-shirt, Bame claims she told him: "We don't want your anti-democratic kind in Canada."
Bame said he found the comment absurd considering what the T-shirt says. "I was unfairly categorized as anti-democratic when I am anything but."
Others with the same work document were able to enter Canada without a problem, he said, leading him to believe the T-shirt did him in.
Bame tried again at Coutts, 320 kilometres south of Calgary, last Saturday, and failed a second time. He was eventually allowed in on a second attempt at Coutts on Monday, but only after he promised not to lecture on permaculture and not to do any digging or construction, which he had hoped to do to demonstrate ecological practices.
Bame's lawyer, Wendy Danson, said immigration officials were probably technically correct, because Bame had planned to dig and build, but they could have let him through.
"If he was just doing the lecture circuit, I would have had a different opinion," she said.
Danson said she believes Bame's troubles are part of a larger crackdown against protesters by the federal government that began months ago.
She said her client would likely have an easier time if he arrived two months from now; by then, they probably wouldn't have searched his luggage in the same way or made "nasty comments" about protesters.
"There's no question in my mind it had a G-8 flavour to it."
Bame and his friend, Erik Ohlsen, who also had difficulty entering Canada for G-8, said they're worried about the fate of other colleagues on their way to protest the summit.
Meanwhile, an advocate for G-8 protesters is accusing the Canadian government of an immigration crackdown through aggressive border-crossing interviews and luggage searches.
A spokeswoman with the G-8 Legal Collective said she is angry with what she sees as the government's growing lack of accountability on several issues.
"This is a government that has seriously eroded the legitimacy of its power," said Sarah Dover. "The prime minister would have us believe we elect dictators."
Speaking about protesters in general, Robert Ferguson, director of Citizenship and Immigration in Calgary, said "immigration officers are going to be more vigilant" in advance of the G-8 summit, although there are no special categories for protesters.
The burden of proof is on visitors to be honest about the purpose of their trip and length of stay and to have enough money to sustain themselves while here.
A criminal record could also bar their visit, he said.
"The simple fact you're a protester is not a reason to be refused admission to Canada," said Ferguson.
The rules around guest speakers can be complicated, he said. A person arriving for a speech or two won't need a work permit, but those speaking more often might.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.