Reducing opening hours in certain locations will allow the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to use its employees “more efficiently” by placing them at the busiest ports of entry, says the door -speaker, Luke Reimer.
“Temporary measures aimed at securing border crossings during closing hours” are being put in place, specifies the spokesperson, while Ottawa is working on “more permanent solutions”.
The changes were determined in collaboration with US Customs and Border Protection, “to improve the overall security of both countries.” From now on, customs on both sides of the border will open and close at the same times.
“This alignment will allow both countries to send inadmissible travelers and goods back to the other country, which is more difficult when one side of the border is closed while the other remains open,” explains Luke Reimer, of the CBSA.
These customs stations process only two or fewer commercial cars or trucks per hour, on average, during periods when they will no longer be operational. Other border crossings will remain available less than 50 km from those that will be closed.
No more “unguarded roads”
With its length of 8,891 km, including 813 in Quebec, the land border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world. Closed border crossings will become “unguarded roads”, i.e. crossings where there is no permanent control.
The illegal crossing of people and goods across the border has been an issue for several years, as explained here in this video shot by Les Coops earlier this summer. (Journalist: Marie-Christine Bouchard | Videographer: Maxime Picard | Production and editing: Mòrag Bélisle)
Monitoring of closed border crossings will be delegated to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which has a contingency plan across the country to find the police officers needed to patrol the border.
In Canada, RCMP officers patrol the border, while border services officers only work at border crossings. In the United States, US Customs and Border Protection agents do both.
1.3 billion to spend how?
This decision to close several customs posts at night is maintained even if the The federal government has promised to spend $1.3 billion over six years to strengthen border security. Monday’s economic statement provides few details on how that money will be spent.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in November that the government will implement improvements to border security before the inauguration of new U.S. President Donald Trump on January 20.
Minister LeBlanc, who also took the helm of Finance this week, after the resignation of Chrystia Freeland, also committed to providing the RCMP and the CBSA with additional drones and helicopters.
However, there is currently a shortage of 2,000 to 3,000 front-line agents at the Border Services Agency, according to the Canadian Customs and Immigration Union.
-With information from The Canadian Press
