at the U.S. border when heading out on a trip to Montana.
On May 14, 51-year-old Mary Anne Gill was on a motorcycle trip from Radium Hot Springs, B.C. to Elmo, Montana, with one of her female friends. When the two women arrived at the border crossing in Rossville, Gill removed her helmet and walked to one of the checkpoint windows. The patrolman told her that she should have waited for instructions and began inquiring about her trip.
The officer asked Gill why she was traveling to Elmo, calling it “Indian country.” He said before she could proceed, she would have to undergo a second inspection.
During the inspection, customs agents found no contraband on Gill or on her bike. But they did find her interim driver’s license. Despite finding the license to be legitimate, agents told her they had to conduct a strip search.
“I said, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong, I don’t know why you would need to do that,’” Gill told Kelowna Now. “I got scared. I got really scared.”
Gill asked for the police, but agents refused to call. Gill refused to remove her clothing in front of three men with no women present. The men then forcibly removed her clothes and conducted a cavity search.
The ordeal lasted 45 minutes, during which Gill’s friend recalled hearing her screams from two blocks away. After agents found nothing, Gill was released.
Gill and her friend never made it to Elmo, instead the two women stayed in a hotel for the night before returning to Canada the next day through a different border crossing.
At the Canadian border, Gill was pulled over for speeding. She retold her story to the officer, who put her in contact with victim services in Canada. Gill shared her story to warn others of potential mistreatment at border crossings.
