from many engineering colleagues both in Canada and the United States, is that there would be resounding agreement with this statement. I go to many professional conferences such as are operated by the steel, power, cement, mining and energy trade associations and in fact sit on several sub-committees within them. When we meet, travel related issues are often a source of conversation and frankly based on the discussions, it would be difficult to establish who has the greater 'challenges'... those who are travelling north or those who are travelling south. No doubt some of what can be perceived as 'inconsistent treatment' can be confused with the need for a much higher high level of security particularly in the wake of 9/11. This obviously is understandable. I would like to highlight a few specific problems encountered at borders that come immediately to mind: Language and Terminology: One of the main issues that seems to surface as a frequent common denominator for the problems that many people have with border crossing revolves around the definition of one very simple word ... work. As any experienced border crosser knows, if you were to say you are "working" in answer to a question of "so what will you be doing while you are here", it would be an immediate red flag to the agent on duty. As a result, problems arise simply due to a misunderstanding of which definition is being applied i.e. the meaning that the border crossing agent is applying (which likely