By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
A Quebec man is warning fellow boaters to steer well clear of the U.S. border on Lake Champlain after what he describes as a harrowing encounter with the U.S. Coast Guard that left him briefly jailed, soaked, and shaken.
Édouard Lallemand, 60, was out fishing alone in a small aluminum boat near Venise-en-Québec on Sunday, July 20, when he says a U.S. Coast Guard vessel confronted him, accused him of being in American waters, and eventually detained him.
“They said I was in American water. I said, ‘It’s impossible. I see the buoy on my left,’” Lallemand told The Record in a July 23 interview. “I swear to the day I die; I wasn’t in the States.”
Lallemand said he had launched from a friend’s dock and was trolling slowly, taking care to remain north of the international border. He says he was certain he was still in Canadian territory, citing landmarks he has used while fishing the lake for decades.
According to Lallemand, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel with four officers approached and told him to cut his engine. After a brief verbal exchange, Lallemand said he attempted to head back to shore, but the coast guard vessel manoeuvred in such a way that it pushed his boat southward.
“They were pushing me into the States,” he said. “I said, ‘I know what you’re trying to do, to make sure I’m in the States and then you’re going to arrest me.’”
Lallemand alleges that in the process, his small boat capsized. “I swear to God I was drowning,” he said. “I yelled at them, ‘Give me a buoy, I’m drowning here.’” He was eventually pulled aboard the Coast Guard vessel, handcuffed, and taken to shore in Vermont, where he said he was placed in a jail cell for about six hours.
Once processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in St. Albans, Vermont, Lallemand was released without charge or fine and allowed to return to Canada. “They said, ‘You’re welcome to come back to the USA anytime you want,’” he said. “Come on… I look like it says ‘sucker’ on my head?”
Lallemand said he lost fishing gear valued at around $800 and described the incident as traumatic. “I can’t eat. I jump out of bed at night like I’m falling,” he said. “I’ve been working in public my whole life. I’m not a fighter. I fish, I love my wife and grandkids. That’s it.”
In a statement provided to CTV News, the U.S. Coast Guard said the Canadian vessel had crossed into U.S. territory and the boater failed to comply with orders to stop. The statement said he was taken into custody and transferred to U.S. Border Patrol “without incident.” The Coast Guard also said the actions of its crew “are currently under investigation.”
Lallemand, meanwhile, is urging other Canadians to avoid the border area entirely. “Don’t even go close to it,” he said. “Even if it’s 500, 600 feet from there.”
The Record contacted the U.S. Coast Guard for further comment but did not receive a response before press time.