I remember traveling as a kid with my family to Canada back in the 70's. I was probably 10 or 12 years old. The Canadian Border check consisted of the border agent asking my Dad a question about the nature of our business in Canada and that was it. No papers. No names. No nothing. Off we went with 20 kilos of hash stuffed in the trunk. (I'm joking about the last bit, BTW.)
Yes, the requirement didn’t start until the 2000s.