Dunster, you can contest the duty at a CBA office, iirc, but I'm not sure of the exact process. They have a 1-800 number, and the people are very, very helpful. If I was a US merchant who was willing to ship to Canada (and a LOT of them aren't, I'm just saying) I'd probably call and find out exactly how to label the packages for my customers.
People in Canada tend to be surprised at the amount of duty we pay in general, and Americans are doubly so. I mean, we live in a country where gas is about $5.50 US/Gal, and milk in my area is about $5/gal. It's a real shock for my husband, that's for sure. (Granted, it's bizarre - it's cheaper for us in Toronto to eat strawberries imported from Mexico than it is for people in Texas.)
Add to the fact that when we purchase in Canada, the duties are hidden to a certain degree - wrapped up in the sticker price, because we have so little manufacturing and so much has historically been imported. And finally, we've traditionally had a very high exchange rate in the US, and Canadians are used to paying a LOT of money for certain products. (Some non-quilting examples: Shoes at payless, the exact same shoes, are usually 20-30% higher priced between Canada and the US. Books are starting to even up in price, but many are still 20% higher at least. A bernina foot I need is $60 in Canada, and $25 in the US.) This also serves to keep the prices artificially high, even though the dollar has been floating within 5% of par for the last five years, and has been over par for most of the last 6 months.