Hi all, Ellen here. Canadian author Vicki Delany is a revered cozy author who I am blessed to consider a dear friend. I was saddened to learn that she’d cancelled her upcoming author visits to the U.S. Today she shares what compelled her to make the decision, as well as a couple of past experiences crossing the border that factored into it. NOTE: any negative comments will be deleted.
I Will Not be Travelling to the United States – Here’s Why
I’ve travelled to the United States many times in the 20 years since I became a full-time author. I love meeting readers and fellow authors. Of the three major mystery conferences (Left Coast Crime, Malice Domestic, and Bouchercon) I’ve gone to at least one every year, many years all of them. I’ve been to smaller festivals and conferences, to libraries, to bookstores. I’ve toured with wonderful American authors many of whom I now consider good friends, and I’ve spent before and after event time enjoying a vacation.
But in February I announced on Facebook that as a Canadian I have cancelled all of my upcoming appearances in the United States.
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve written several blog posts giving further explanation of my thinking regarding what is going on. Most specifically, that members of the current administration of the United States, including the President, have clearly and unambiguously stated that their goal is the destruction of Canada as an independent nation. No exaggeration, no hyperbole. That’s what they are saying, and Canadians are believing it to the point that our government is seriously considering cancelling contracts with US “defense” industries and joining a European initiative.
How, I have written, did it come to pass that in the course of two months Canada and Canadians went from being a trusted friend, business partner, and ally, to an enemy to be destroyed either economically or militarily?
Things are moving so fast, that at this point, even if I changed my mind and wanted to go to the US, I fear it quite simply wouldn’t be safe for me to do so.
We’re reading news reports about European and Canadian travelers being refused entry to the US on either unstated or flimsy excuses, or worse held in custody for weeks in detention centers with no access to consular services (as required under international law) or legal representation. Here is an example:
Canadians such as myself have always understood that the US is another country and admittance to that country is up to the Americans authorities, as it is coming the other way.
Vicki speaks at an American bookstore and in Albany, NY.
I have twice had trouble at the border and been taken aside for questioning. Once I was refused admittance to the US because I had a box of my own books in my trunk. I explained that I was moving house and simply hadn’t taken the box out of the trunk, and I was going to a bookstore where the store would be selling books from their stock, not me. Nevertheless, I was turned away. I drove to my mother’s house and left the box there and went back to the border. After some degree of what I’d consider harassment (no books – nothing to sell, so why the continuing hassle?) I was allowed to proceed.
The second time I explained to the American border guard that I was going to the Outer Banks to do research. I was told I needed a work visa. This is, quite simply, not true. We actually had a fair and calm discussion in which I explained that writers travel for research all the time, without problems, that I was not being paid for this trip, and I was bringing nothing to sell or any samples of merchandise. I was again allowed to proceed.
In all the times I have travelled to conferences or for talks at libraries or festivals bookstores, I have never had a work visa, nor have the Canadian authors I have travelled with. Because, quite simply, we are not being paid to go, and we are not bringing anything to sell. Whenever I have been offered payment or an honorarium for an appearance in the US, I ask the organizers to return the money to their promotional or book budget or to give it to charity. I don’t want to run into any concerns about whether I need a work visa.
But things have changed, and I would not take the chance of encountering any issues again. Worse things are happening than being refused entry. Am I going to chance having my iPad or my iPhone opened and messages read, as in the recent case of a French scientist? I travel extensively and I’ve been to some pretty dodgy and shady and highly undemocratic places. Never, ever, before have I feared having my correspondence read.
I do now.
And I am not the only one: on March 19, the CBC reported that in February, 500,000 fewer Canadians travelled to the US from Canada than the same time last year. So, yes. We are serious about this.
It has been said that Canadian are prepared to sacrifice much in this war, and Americans nothing. According to the respected Globe and Mai newspaper on March 24, 2025: The early indications are that Canadian consumers are more than willing to put their money where their patriotism is.
Globe editorial: The tariff move that Donald Trump can’t counter – The Globe and Mail
Elbows Up! If you are wondering what that means, it’s become the resistance call to US aggression. It’s a hockey saying meaning to protect yourself and your teammates, to fight back.
Crime Writers of Canada at Left Coast Crime in Phoenix, AZ, 2016
ABOUT: Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than fifty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year-Round Christmas mysteries, the Tea by the Sea books, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates).
She is a past chair of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival. She is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing and will be the Cozy Guest of Honor at Bouchercon in Calgary in 2026. Vicki lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.
Chicks on the Case 
Thank you for your honesty, Vicki. I am ashamed, embarrassed, and appalled at the absolutely horrific treatment the current administration is subjecting anyone who may be “other” to. There is no justification for it and it makes me ashamed to be an American. Stay safe and may we see each other in better time down the road.
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Thanks for understanding and your support
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I came here to say the same thing, JC. And, Vicki, thanks for standing up and being vocal about this. I am absolutely stunned at the swipe our so-called “leadership” has taken at Canada and the rest of the world. It’s insanity. I’m just glad my Canadian friends know it’s a tiny minority of Americans who are ruining everything. Doesn’t fix anything, of course, but makes me think we might get past this. I’m keeping my elbows up, too!
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Thank you, Becky
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This is just heartbreaking. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. We Americans are beyond horrified as he who won’t me named dismembers everything dear to us in this country. Even citizens like me who have voted for 50+ years may likely have to show a passport or birth certificate at the polls. We’re scrambling to figure out how to best resist. Bertholt Brecht wrote the prescient book the Resistable Rise of Arturo Uni, a parable on Hitler’s rise to power set in 1920s gangland Chicago. The protagonist’s final words of warning are, “ the bitch that bore him (Hitler) is in heat again.” But we are way past that now and this will not end well.
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Thanks for your comment. Yes, my heart breaks for all my wonderful caring American friends. May we meet again.
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Vicki, thank you so much for sharing your perspective and your past experiences at the border. The improv format I did for years, Theatresports, originated in Canada and I’ve spent enough time there to feel like it’s a second home. I have so many Canadian friends, both authors and performers. I will always love and support you!
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Thanks Ellen, and thank you and the rest of the Chicks for inviting me to say my piece.
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You’ve explained things very well, Vicki. I canceled my trip to Malice, not because I don’t want to attend, but because I fear going to the U.S. as a Canadian. It’s mindboggling. I have many American friends and look forward to returning there, once it feels safe again.
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Sending you much care… 💕
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Thank you so much Jennifer :):)
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Sydney, I’m so sorry you won’t be there. But I totally get it.
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Ellen, thank you for your support and understanding. It was a difficult decision–I love Malice and am sad to miss it. Luckily, Bouchercon happens to be in Calgary in 2026, so I’m signed up for that and already looking forward to it.
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Vicki, I totally understand your position. Please know that your American readers love you, and wish only the best for you and all the Canadian writers. Don’t put yourself in danger. I hope this craziness will stop. I look forward to the day when we can get back to being the welcoming country we have been always been known for.
Carol
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Your support means a lot to us, Carol
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Vicki: I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts and perspective, including the enlightening but worrisome anecdotes. And thanks also for that lesson about the hockey term; I was wondering what it meant…
Suffice it to say, we love our Canadian friends!
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Vicki, you speak for me and other Canadian authors, and you do it so well. Thank you for this heartfelt and courageous post. I will miss everyone at Malice and Bouchercon this year!
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We will miss seeing you, Vicki. Take care and until we can meet again!
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Joining what the others have already said: I’m embarrassed, ashamed, and horrified by what the current administration is doing with regard to Canada–and the rest of the world. It’s simply appalling that it’s come to the point where our beloved Canadian friends fear to enter the U.S. Please know we Chicks all support you. Elbows up!
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Thanks, Leslie.
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There are many things Trump does that I disagree with, but this might be the most puzzling one of all. Why exactly are we going after Canada? No one knows. I’m sorry that this has impacted you, and that we’ve made an entire country have to be on red alert for no good reason whatsoever. Thanks for sharing your experience.
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Thank you Vicki, for being brave enough to write this with such honesty, and Chicks for being brave enough to run it. I recently had an email exchange with a fellow author who believes that the many Canadians who have decide not to travel to U.S., of not feeling safe, is a complete overreaction. Just don’t ride the NYC subway at 3 a.m., was some of the advice. The conversation did not end well and I expect we both felt our relationship was forever fractured.
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I am so over the denial. Soooo over it.
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Thank you for joining us here on Chicks, Vicki–you know you are always most welcome and beloved here (as are your books). US conferences won’t be the same without our Canadian community of sisters and misters in crimewriting. And here in NH, we are at a loss as to how to deal with the (hopefully very temporary) loss of our regular in-person visits with our neighbors to the North.
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I’ll miss those conferences so much. Don’t forget about Bouchercon in Calgary in 2019
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I meant 2026, obviously.
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I agree, Lisa. It will suck not having our dear Canadian friends at cons. But it increases my resolve to go to Bouchercon in Calgary in 2026 – when Vicki is the Cozy Guest of Honor!
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Well, it is your readers that will suffer from you not coming. I think that it will all work out and we will get to be partners again with Canada. I think the President is what we need, but I do not agree with all he does. But hopefully it will all work out as I said.
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With respect, do you realize that the feeling all around the world, is that the United States can never be trusted again. That the word of the American president is literally worthless? It might ‘work out’ that the US doesn’t destroy Canada as an independent country, and it might ‘work out’ that we feel comfortable travelling there again. But all that trust is gone and Canada, Europe, Australia, etc etc are actively seeking new markets, new trading and defense relationships right now.
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After living through the last 4 years under the previous president that was trying to ruin America. I beg to differ, but that is what America is all about. Life is too short to not get along. It will all work out. “God works in mysterious ways, his wonders to behold.” Sorry you disagree, but I will still read your books as I appreciate you and them. That is what makes all individuals.
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I’m going to Malice Domestic this year and I’ll sure miss seeing cheerful you. Of course, I completely understand and hope that the scourge infecting our White House can be booted out, although I realize it will most likely take some time. The sooner, the better. It’s perfectly awful that a convicted felon and sex predator is being allowed to ruin alliances that have stood for all of my lifetime, and beyond. In other words, I mourn this era and hope for a new one ASAP.
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Thanks Kaye. I’ll miss everyone. But there is Bouchercon in Calgary in 2026.
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Thank you, Vicki, for this post. The damage that is being done right now–on so many levels–is heartbreaking. Sending much love to you and all of our Canadian friends.
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