Manitoba (well ... sort of)
From the 50 State Visitor Guide : North Dakota
N.D. Century Code 2021 §§12.1-20-25, 12.1-32.15, 12.1-34-06
Registration Triggers and Deadlines:
3 days for initial registration of “residence” (not defined). 3 days for registration of “temporary domicile,” defined as being physically present in state for more than 10 consecutive days, present in state for more than 30 days in a calendar year, or at a location for longer than 10 consecutive days. §12.1-32.15(1)(h), (2).
Visitors: Per N Dak. SOR office, visitors must register if in state 10 consecutive days or 30 days per calendar year.
Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:
Residency Restriction: “High-risk” offenders may not reside within 500 ft. of a public or private school. §12.1-32-13.
Presence restriction: May not knowingly enter school without permission, subject to exceptions. §12.1-20-25.
Duration & updates:
15 to life. Frequency of updates determined by AG. §12.1-32.15.
Updates: Homeless – every 3 days. §12.1-32.15(2). Others vary.
International Peace Garden: September 2022
If you want to dip your toe into Canada and pretend you have beaten the restrictions on international travel we registered citizens face, there is the International Peace Garden, which straddles the border between North Dakota and Manitoba.
From the U.S. side, travel north from Dunseith, ND on U.S. 281 right up to the international border. The park entrance is actually a few yards (oh, excuse me, meters) on the Canadian side, but it’s purposefully located between the two Customs Stations. You’ll drive right past the U.S. Customs Station, then turn left into the park entrance just before you get to the Canadian Customs Station. Pay your $25 entrance fee and TADAAAH! you’re in Canada – no questions asked!
I took the nerve-wracking precaution of stopping at the U.S. Customs Station to make sure all my paperwork was definitely in order and I wouldn’t get hand-cuffed on my way back into the U.S. I offered the guy at the drive thru window not just my driver’s license but also my registry sheets from both Florida and Iowa which proved that I had permission to be in North Dakota on the day I was there.
He was very easy-going and after looking me up on his computer handed everything back to me and said there was no need for me to have stopped on my way to the Peace Garden, only on the way back. In fact when I did come through on my way back he was very friendly and asked how did I like it? “Very nice!” I said.
So there you go. I have done the nerve-wracking part for you, my fellow registrants, so now you can drive right past the U.S. Customs Station without breaking into a cold sweat.
Now let’s talk about the Peace Garden itself. The central portion which runs along the U.S. – Canada border comprises a formal garden surrounded by a scenic drive. There are a conservatory and interpretive center, a sunken garden, sculptures, a 9/11 memorial and a peace chapel. Two other scenic loop roads branch a few miles (kilometers) from the central drive, one into Canada and one into the U.S.
Unfortunately all the developed facilities, including the campground and rental cabins, are on the U.S. side. These also include a game warden museum, an international music camp and performing arts center, and a Masonic retreat and auditorium. Mental note: there’s absolutely no food available at the International Peace Park, so you’ll have to bring it all with you.
I guess Manitoba doesn’t feel like spending much money on this park because on their side there are only a few picnic areas and hiking trails. Unfortunately for registered visitors this means you can only camp on the North Dakota side. You’ll always be subject to that state’s visitor rules because you’ll spend at least part of every day in North Dakota and as with most states you must assume that any partial day will count as a full day towards your stay there.
North Dakota’s visitor rules are about average among U.S. states and not too tough to live with. You get ten consecutive days (including partial days) or 30 days per calendar year, which in this very special situation means that even though park rules allow you to stay at the campground up to two weeks you really can’t stay more than nine days (including getting yourself into and out of North Dakota) because the tenth day would trigger an obligation to register in this state and you don’t want to do that.
In theory, of course, if you were able to hike over into Manitoba and “primitive camp” there for two consecutive nights and a full day spent outside of North Dakota, you’d be able to return to your campsite on the ND side and restart the clock to extend your stay. The trick would be having a permit with a receipt from the park office to document your out-of-state excursion, and therein lies the rub. If Manitoba had any intention of letting you camp overnight on their side, surely they’d have a campground there for you to use. So what makes you think they’ll give you a permit to primitive camp along one of their hiking trails? Nothing. And without a dated permit you’ve got nothing to prove you were ever out of North Dakota when you emerge from the Peace Garden and go back through U.S. Customs several days later.
And now to permanently extinguish any lingering fantasy you may be having about whether you could check into the Peace Garden, walk across the border and disappear into Canada to escape America’s registry. First: there is, actually, a Manitoba provincial park abutting and surrounding the Peace Garden on their side. Whether there is some kind of electrified fence preventing you from leaving the Peace Garden over there I do not know because I didn’t check and of course I didn’t ask such a nakedly suspicious question.
But even if there isn’t, what the hell would you do once you got into Canada with no ID and no passport and no nothing else? Apply for political asylum based on the unconstitutionality of your U.S. registry status? No. According to the RTAG (Registered Travel Action Group) site, Canada doesn’t discriminate against registered people. Instead, their policy is to not let ANY convicted felon of any kind into their country. Once you get caught (which you will) they’ll arrest you and toss you back across the U.S. border where you’ll be immediately arrested and sent to jail. Is that really how you want to want to spend your vacation?
Having said all that, it is fun to dip your toe into a foreign country at the International Peace Garden. Also, I believe this isn’t the only border-crossing, toe-dipping opportunity along the Canadian border and perhaps even the Mexican border. I think I will see if I can find some others and report to you on them too.
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