As a perimeter security deal is reportedly being finalized between the Harper government and the Obama administration, the US Border Protection agency is considering building new fences and barriers, and increasing the use of drones and radar along the Canada-US border.
The Canadian Press reports this morning:
1- “The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has proposed the use of ‘fencing and other barriers’ on the (Canada-US border) to manage ‘trouble spots where passage of cross-border violators is difficult to control.'”
2- “The border service is also pondering options including a beefed-up technological presence through increased use of radar, sensors, cameras, drones and vehicle scanners. In addition, it might continue to improve or expand customs facilities at ports of entry.”
3- “A U.S. Government Accountability Office report recently warned that only a small portion of the border with Canada is properly secure. It said U.S. border officers control just 50 kilometres of the 6,400-kilometre boundary.”
4- “Over the last two years, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has already made what it calls ‘critical security improvements along the northern border’, adding inspectors at the ports of entry and Border Patrol agents between ports, as well as modernizing land crossings.”
5- “Unmanned U.S. aircraft (already) patrol about 1,500 kilometres along the northern border from Washington to Minnesota as well as more than 300 kilometres of the Canadian border around New York state and Lake Ontario.”
In December 2010, Toronto Star columnist Thomas Walkom wrote, “The latest government attempt to create a common security perimeter around North America is another bad deal for Canada. …The upshot of any perimeter deal will be to give the U.S. two borders — an outer one around North America and an inner one at the 49th parallel.”
In January of this year, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow commented that, “This security perimeter plan sounds like a whole new set of hassles at the border. It sounds like more border security, longer entry/exit lines at the Canada US border, new screening processes for anyone leaving Canada, and more security guards and border personnel.”
