back in ‘61, I was traveling with a group of HS kids from church to Vancouver, BC from WA State. We crossed the border at Blaine into Canada and also returning to the USA a few days later.
The border agents, both northbound and southbound, only questioned the driver. We were waved through without showing ID - nothing. Matter-of-fact, I know I carried no ID identifying myself as a US citizen.
Then again, in ‘69, we drove up to Canada from E. WA, crossed the border, I, as the driver, showed ID (Wa DL), passed through each way, and we were on our way to visit Cananda and return. Never even occurred to us that we would need a passport. That’s just the way things were in the good ol’ days.
I was there as recently as 1985 and we got waved through too. They just checked out license plates.
Indeed it was. I grew up in Michigan, and we vacationed in Canada every summer back in the 1960's and early 1970's. The border crossing was very informal. The agent leaned his head into the car and asked Dad who we all were and where we were going. He might have asked Dad for ID, but certainly not the rest of us. My brother and I didn't carry any ID when we were youngsters; there was no need. The Canadian border agent was always very friendly and wished us a nice vacation. On the return home to the US, the Canadian agent always asked how many fish Dad had caught, and sometimes asked to see the cooler. They were more concerned with whether the lakes were being over-fished than they were with the identity of passengers in the car. Sometimes the US agents inquired about fireworks. My brother usually bought Canadian fireworks to take home to Michigan, where the laws were more strict. My parents are naturalized citizens who speak with heavy accents. Even during the cold war years, they crossed with no problem and little scrutiny.
I experienced the exact same thing during my travels across the border from B.C. into the U.S. They might stop the vehicle and ask the driver for their driver’s license but they paid absolutely NO attention to passengers!