On Dec. 17, the federal government announced more details about its plans to spend an additional $1.3 billion on border security and associated issues.
In ordinary circumstances, the current government would not have even bothered opening up this file. For decades, successive governments have mostly ignored border security and potential threats from other countries.
Canadians have seen this not just at the border, or with immigration enforcement, but also with the decline in personnel and equipment for the Canadian military.
Governments since the 1960s have mostly ignored these essential elements of nationhood.
However, November鈥檚 election of Donald Trump as the incoming U.S. president has changed that thinking. Trump has threatened 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S., starting in January 鈥� unless Canada gets serious about border issues and cuts the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.
性视界传媒 and Delta have three border crossings. The two in 性视界传媒 are among the busiest in the country, while the Delta crossing goes to the isolated area of Point Roberts. While the federal government has invested in new facilities at the crossings and hired more staff, the way it deals with border issues hasn鈥檛 changed in decades.
Customs officers (now known as Canada Border Services Agency officers) have no power to deal with any issue that does not occur at an official port of entry. It is up to the RCMP to patrol the rest of the border. In fact, it is rare for RCMP to actually patrol the border. High-tech devices 鈥� heat sensors, drones, cameras and other technology 鈥� are rarely used, unlike the wide variety of devices the U.S. Border Patrol uses.
Many of the incidents involving police or CBSA along the border come as a result of tips from U.S. officers.
At one time, Customs officers did have the power to patrol beyond border crossings. Customs officer Clifford Adams was actually shot and killed in 性视界传媒 in 1914 when he confronted a suspected U.S. bank robber, away from the border crossing. That power was taken away in 1932. Things have changed since then.
More and more people come to Canada from other countries to try and get into the U.S., as was the case with 29 people found inside a rail car of plastic pellets. They were found by U.S. border officials using X-rays in Blaine in August 2023.
Trump has raised issues about drug smuggling. While official statistics suggest that drug smuggling from Canada to the U.S. isn鈥檛 much of an issue, the reality is that most smugglers aren鈥檛 caught. Drugs are smuggled into Canada in containers at ports such as Deltaport, where there is virtually no enforcement, and are then distributed all across Canada and to other parts of the world, including the U.S.
The new measures announced Dec. 17 include helicopter surveillance of the border (the RCMP already have a helicopter based in Langley), more use of drones, more dog sniffing teams, and a proposal to the U.S. to jointly set up a North American Joint Strike Force to deal with drug and people smuggling across the border. Maybe it could also deal with guns, routinely smuggled into Canada for use by criminals.
There was no word about hiring any more staff, either for CBSA or the RCMP. Nor was there any word about allowing CBSA officers to work outside official entry points, as has been suggested by the union representing CBSA officers.
If Canada is serious about border security, it would seem that making maximum use of existing border protection staff would be a good place to start.
Frank Bucholtz writes twice monthly on political issues for Black Press Media publications.
