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Border guards call for armed patrol
By MICHAEL DEN TANDT
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 Updated at 1:10 AM EST
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050322.wborders22/BNStory/National/
Ottawa â †The union representing Canada's border guards is urging the federal government to establish an armed border patrol to fill what it says are egregious security gaps at hundreds of unguarded Canada-U.S. border crossings.
In a speech to be delivered before the Commons justice committee Tuesday, Ron Moran, head of the 10,500-member Customs Excise Union, chastises Public Security Minister Anne McLellan for understating the frequency with which vehicles drive through border crossings without first passing through customs.
Last month, Ms. McLellan told a Commons subcommittee that Quebec's Lacolle border crossing â †the largest in Quebec, with 15 full-time customs officers â †had seen only 18 drivers "blow through" the border in a single year, Mr. Moran notes.
"In reality," the union leader says in the prepared text for today's speech, "our members counted no less than 17 vehicles during a three-week period in the month of December alone."
Mr. Moran adds that such incidents are common at border posts across Canada. During the week of Feb. 7 in British Columbia, customs officers at five crossings registered 26 illegal crossings, he says in the speech.
And in Stanstead, Que., customs officers typically count 250 "unidentified vehicles" entering Canada each month using two unguarded roads nearby. "We're also aware that CBSA [Canada Border Services Agency] has over 1,600 vehicles documented as entering Canada in 2004 and failing to report to customs."
In an interview yesterday, Mr. Moran said the statistics, particularly at well-staffed crossings such as Lacolle, speak to "flagrant disrespect for any form of authority that exists at the border."
Canadian customs officers are not armed. Nor are they allowed to pursue vehicles that "run" border posts. That duty falls to local police forces, many of whom are strapped for resources and unable to respond in time to catch border runners, Mr. Moran said.
The best way to plug the gaps, he said, would be to establish an armed border patrol, mandated to patrol "unofficial" border crossings, of which there are more than 200 across Canada. Existing customs offices at official ports of entry would serve as bases.
He estimated the job could be done by 250 officers. Assuming an average salary of $50,000, plus benefits, the additional officers would cost taxpayers about $15-million a year, plus the cost of vehicles and equipment.
A spokesman for Ms. McLellan immediately dismissed the idea, saying that, although Ottawa is plowing hundreds of millions of dollars into beefing up the border, "there's no plan to set up an armed Canadian border patrol."
Spokesman Alex Swann said that the government has sharply expanded the number of RCMP-led International Border Enforcement Teams, from four teams in 2001 to 15 currently. Four of these operate in Quebec, where border security is a particularly sensitive issue, both because of the large numbers of unguarded crossings and because nine of the province's RCMP border detachments were closed last year because of budget cuts.
The customs union, for its part, argues that the RCMP teams are primarily investigative in nature, and are no substitute for boots on the ground along the border.
The union has taken its campaign to opposition MPs, and is urging border communities, provinces and U.S. states that skirt the border to take up the issue with the federal government. The RCMP declined comment yesterday.
By MICHAEL DEN TANDT
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 Updated at 1:10 AM EST
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050322.wborders22/BNStory/National/
Ottawa â †The union representing Canada's border guards is urging the federal government to establish an armed border patrol to fill what it says are egregious security gaps at hundreds of unguarded Canada-U.S. border crossings.
In a speech to be delivered before the Commons justice committee Tuesday, Ron Moran, head of the 10,500-member Customs Excise Union, chastises Public Security Minister Anne McLellan for understating the frequency with which vehicles drive through border crossings without first passing through customs.
Last month, Ms. McLellan told a Commons subcommittee that Quebec's Lacolle border crossing â †the largest in Quebec, with 15 full-time customs officers â †had seen only 18 drivers "blow through" the border in a single year, Mr. Moran notes.
"In reality," the union leader says in the prepared text for today's speech, "our members counted no less than 17 vehicles during a three-week period in the month of December alone."
Mr. Moran adds that such incidents are common at border posts across Canada. During the week of Feb. 7 in British Columbia, customs officers at five crossings registered 26 illegal crossings, he says in the speech.
And in Stanstead, Que., customs officers typically count 250 "unidentified vehicles" entering Canada each month using two unguarded roads nearby. "We're also aware that CBSA [Canada Border Services Agency] has over 1,600 vehicles documented as entering Canada in 2004 and failing to report to customs."
In an interview yesterday, Mr. Moran said the statistics, particularly at well-staffed crossings such as Lacolle, speak to "flagrant disrespect for any form of authority that exists at the border."
Canadian customs officers are not armed. Nor are they allowed to pursue vehicles that "run" border posts. That duty falls to local police forces, many of whom are strapped for resources and unable to respond in time to catch border runners, Mr. Moran said.
The best way to plug the gaps, he said, would be to establish an armed border patrol, mandated to patrol "unofficial" border crossings, of which there are more than 200 across Canada. Existing customs offices at official ports of entry would serve as bases.
He estimated the job could be done by 250 officers. Assuming an average salary of $50,000, plus benefits, the additional officers would cost taxpayers about $15-million a year, plus the cost of vehicles and equipment.
A spokesman for Ms. McLellan immediately dismissed the idea, saying that, although Ottawa is plowing hundreds of millions of dollars into beefing up the border, "there's no plan to set up an armed Canadian border patrol."
Spokesman Alex Swann said that the government has sharply expanded the number of RCMP-led International Border Enforcement Teams, from four teams in 2001 to 15 currently. Four of these operate in Quebec, where border security is a particularly sensitive issue, both because of the large numbers of unguarded crossings and because nine of the province's RCMP border detachments were closed last year because of budget cuts.
The customs union, for its part, argues that the RCMP teams are primarily investigative in nature, and are no substitute for boots on the ground along the border.
The union has taken its campaign to opposition MPs, and is urging border communities, provinces and U.S. states that skirt the border to take up the issue with the federal government. The RCMP declined comment yesterday.
