Sweet idea turns sour at border

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This article was published 01/12/2023 (676 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There will be no sugar tonight for food bank users and some seniors in Transcona.

Tabor Baptist Church pastor Rod Giesbrecht says — despite calling Canada Border Services Agency ahead of time — he was turned back earlier this week at the Emerson crossing with 225 kilograms (500 pounds) of sugar he had bought in the United States.

The goal was to donate the sweetener currently lacking on Winnipeg grocery shelves to the Transcona Food Bank and Transcona Council for Seniors, Giesbrecht said.

However, customs officials soured the plan, deeming it not safe to consume, he said — even though he had the bill from the grocery store in Grand Forks, N.D., and it was all in the original individual four-pound bags.

“There was nothing in it for me, just a warm feeling,” the pastor said Thursday. “I was trying to do something right. There are people in Winnipeg who need help getting a staple.”

Giesbrecht decided to head to North Dakota after visiting six local grocery stores and finding the shelves empty of sugar in the run-up to the Christmas baking season.

The shortage, which is impacting bakeries and consumers across Western Canada, is caused by a strike at the Rogers Sugar Inc. refinery in British Columbia. The plant produces 17 per cent of the company’s sugar, according to a news release.

“People at our church have memories of baking with their families at Christmas,” Giesbrecht said. “But the people who use food banks aren’t the ones who would be able to go to six grocery stores. The memories people make baking cookies builds more than bellies — it builds people.”

Giesbrecht said he phoned CBSA, and was told while a ton of sugar would need a permit, there would be no problem with an individual bringing in 500 pounds from the United States. He then called a Hugo’s grocery store to have it set aside 125 four-lb. bags.

On Monday, he drove to Grand Forks.

On the way back, “(the Canadian border official) said I needed to get a food-handling permit or something for food safety,” Giesbrecht said.

“I said, I’m not reselling it, I’m giving it to a food bank and I had phoned ahead so I wouldn’t have a problem… but I was given a commercial goods refusal.”

Giesbrecht did a U-turn, headed to nearby Pembina and told the staff at Mike’s Parcel they could give a bag of sugar to each of its Canadian customers. (The cross-border shipping location is a mainstay of local shoppers.)

A CBSA spokesperson said Thursday they can’t comment on individual cases.

A statement from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said an individual can only bring a maximum of 20 kilograms of sugar across the border for personal use.

“Upon declaration at the border, the Canada Border Services Agency has the enforcement discretion to enforce the maximum quantity limits for personal use exemption,” the statement said. “Food above those limits would be considered commercial use and would require a Safe Food for Canadians licence.”

Under that licence, food importers have to show they know the supply chain of the product, how the supplier made sure it wasn’t contaminated and it was prepared and packaged in sanitary conditions.

Meantime, in the U.S., the sugar has found a new home.

“There have been a few cases where something a Canadian wants to bring across the border is not allowed,” said Ashley, a manager at Mike’s who didn’t want her last name used.

“We try to rehome it or work with a local charity. We want to give it to a good cause.”

Ashley said staff were able to donate all the sweet stuff to a food bank in Grand Forks.

Melanie Morrow, food pantry director at the HC Community Care Center, said the bags of sugar came at the right time.

“We have a food pantry where our guests come to us, it’s set up like a store,” Morrow said. “They pick the food they want. We had no sugar on our shelves but now the sugar is already on our shelves.

“It is all a blessing to us here.”

Executive director Mark Miller said the centre wants to give back to Winnipeg’s hungry.

He has reached out to Tabor Baptist Church “to find out who we can compensate for the cost of the sugar, so those resources can help the local community in Canada.”

In Winnipeg, Giesbrecht said was pleased to hear the sugar will help the hungry in North Dakota. He said the church will take up the centre’s offer, asking for $250 to buy supplies on this side of the border.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca