We arrived shortly after 3:00 pm.  The first taxi arrived at 3:35 bringing a young couple from Zimbabwe. They had quite a lot of luggage but the taxi driver didn’t leave the car or open the trunk of the car for them.  The RCMP officer was polite and to the point, telling them that they would be arrested if they crossed. They proceeded calmly.

We waited for an hour before another taxi arrived with a young Haitian man. He was quite nervous and didn’t seem to understand that he could cross after the RCMP had finished explaining that he would be arrested. He looked back towards us and the taxi driver. We said it was okay to proceed if he understood what the officer had said. Then he crossed.

A warm sunny afternoon.  We arrived shortly after 3pm.  The police officers did not come out to check who we were.  It was a long wait until 4.10pm when the first taxi arrived.  The driver brought five people,  all from Haiti.  They included a  man in his 40s, a man in his late 20's and a family of three with a little girl about 1.5 years old.  Some accepted the offer of a glass of water to drink.  The refugees spoke mainly Kreyol and we had a limited exchanges in French.  The RCMP officer gave his speech in French without intimidation and everyone crossed into Canada without incident.  At one point we saw the officer holding the hand of the little girl who seemed to be making friends with him.

At about 4.25pm the second taxi arrived. He brought three friendlyTurkish men, two in their 20's and the other aged about 40. None of them spoke English or French.  None of them had any luggage aside from two small plastic bags.  Two men took a glass of water. There was a fourth  man in the taxi from Haiti. He was very anxious and we were not really able to speak with him in French. He told us he spoke Kreyol and said the same to the police officer.   He crossed first.   Clearly the Turkish men did not understand what the police officer told them but they crossed into Canada without difficulty. The officer spent quite a bit of time using gestures to convey to them what he wanted them to do such as removing the contents of their pockets etc.  The two officers behaved respectfully with the refugees.  We waited until 5 pm and no more taxis arrived: a  total of nine people crossed during our visit.

It was a quiet afternoon at Roxham. Only two men crossed. They were from Colombia. The RCMP spoke to them in Spanish.