Americans can no longer get into Canada without passports, even driving 
accross the border.  Not even a birth certificate will do anymore.  
Officially this went into effect last spring sometime, but they had a 
delayed grace period, which I'm guessing is up, or at least I wouldn't 
want to risk it.

(And, indeed, i remember when I could get into Canada over the Detroit 
River just saying "American, going for lunch.")

David Fiander wrote:
> I'm not sure, but everybody entering the US is required to present a
> passport or other "enhanced" ID, so if the Americans don't have
> passports, it's more that they can't go home without.
>
> On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 14:36, Walter Lewis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>   
>> On 20 Jan 10, at 2:30 PM, David Fiander wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> Of course, as a corollary to the fact that all the locations being
>>> discussed are Canadian (well, except for Montreal), any Americans
>>> resident in the USA on the list do need to make sure that their
>>> passports will be valid through to the end of May, at least, in order
>>> to ensure you will be able to attend.
>>>       
>> Is Canadian customs now requiring US Passports?  Used to be Hotel California:  you could come over, but without your passport you couldn't go home.
>>
>> Walter
>>
>>     
>
>