Vancouver Sun - October 6, 2009
By Colin Kenny
Lots of Canadians are in full tilt grumble these days over the stricter security measures the U.S. is imposing along the Canada-U.S border.
I’m a bit grumpy myself. I have some real suspicions about the motives of some powerful Americans on what’s happening at the borders.
Which might make you wonder why I’m suggesting that Canada enhance security along the border too – and that we do so in conjunction with the Americans as often as possible.
I know what you’re saying: is this guy cuckoo? Is this what the Senate does to people? But work with me on this.
I have long suspected that many American politicians are hugging themselves at the thickening of the border, delighted to use border delays as non-tariff barriers blocking imports from Canada.
Industry Canada used to promote Canada as a great place for international companies to invest, partially because of our lower production costs and the lower value of our dollar, but mostly because of easy access to U.S. markets. That’s a more difficult argument to make these days.
U.S. authorities really don’t have much motivation to speed up crossings. Sure, the holdups weaken the bottom line of companies with integrated production facilities on both sides of the border. But if that prompts these companies to move all their facilities south of the border . . . hugs all around.
It’s not going to be easy to motivate the Americans to speed things up at the borders. But I think we have to start by taking their genuine concerns about border security into account, and working with them to reduce their anxiety.
The Americans have hang-ups about terrorists and drugs ferreting their way into their country. Canadians have hang-ups about handguns and criminals crossing our borders with relative impunity.
U.S. Homeland Security has a fleet of armed ships and helicopters patrolling the Great Lakes, and are working toward having a network of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) feeding them information on the movement of vessels in waters between the two countries.
The Americans have 2,200 Coast Guard officers patrolling border waters between the two countries, and large numbers of other types of security personnel. At last count Canada had 21 Mounties patrolling border waters in boats that aren’t up to the job, plus a small core group of 173 people who work across the country with the Americans on Inter-Border Enforcement Teams (IBETs).
IBETs allow Canadian and American forces to work together on border policing, planning joint operations that will often succeed when operating in isolation on either side of the border doesn’t work.
Some planned IBET activities have been cut short by jurisdictional disputes as to whether officers can carry guns and make arrests on the other side’s territory. These legalities need to be overcome.
The Shiprider program – under which armed Canadian and U.S. officers worked as teams on boats on the Great Lakes in a pilot project two years ago – showed great potential and will be tried again on the B.C.-Washington border during the Olympics. If the two sides find a way to operate together on water, that would be a step toward allowing IBETs to do the same thing on land.
Canada should move toward complete radar coverage of the border waters that it shares with the United States. That would help identify anomalies in ship movements and lead to identification of those vessels and interdiction. Surveillance by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles would also help. UAVs identify a device the size of an assault weapon from 60,000 feet up. They’re cheaper than helicopters and can remain in place for a lot longer.
At border crossings, Canada has started to arm border security officers. The last statistics provided to the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence in 2007 (before border security officers could carry weapons) showed that 459 vehicles crashed the Canadian border during a six-month period. Hello handguns.
Freight being transported over the border should be scanned on the Canadian side through the use of Vacus gamma ray inspection machines that should be installed on a permanent basis at every major border crossing. The Americans have done this; we have not.
I visited several British Columbia border crossings recently, and discovered that we are trying to make do with three Vacus machines that are moved from crossing to crossing, an expensive and time-consuming process that is also hit and miss. One or two of the machines are almost always in for repair, which makes our electronic surveillance system virtually useless.
The Canadian Border Services Agency also needs additional personnel and facilities to provide proper firearms training while keeping crossings fully staffed.
Our committee estimates that the Agency – which staffs 1,200 border crossings and other ports of entry into Canada – needs 2,300 additional employees to carry out their responsibilities.
The most the current government will commit itself to is funding enough new officers to ensure that every crossing is staffed by two people – an essential for safety. That’s a start, but only a start.
If we Canadians start taking border security more seriously, will it prompt Washington to take our concerns about border thickening more seriously? All I can say is that the current U.S. government seems to appreciate the value of international cooperation more than its predecessors ever did.
Once we start pulling our weight on security, we can negotiate with the Americans on more efficient ways of moving traffic at crossings. We should try to come to an agreement that is results-based in terms of ensuring that a given number of vehicles will be able to cross in an hour. If either side wants to be more meticulous with its searches, fine – let them put more officers in place to ensure that a smooth flow continues.
More cooperation on the security file could lead to a more cooperative way of doing things all along the Canada-U.S. border. And – think about this – it could even curb crime both north and south of the border.
You would think that some party would see votes in less crime and shorter border lineups. We’ll have to wait and see.
[Colin Kenny is Chair of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence. Kennyco@sen.parl.gc.ca]