By Doug Draper
Charles Schumer, a senior U.S. Senator for New York State, has urged his country’s Department of Homeland Security to work with Canadian officials to reverse a significant decline in people crossing the Canada-U.S. border in the Niagara Falls and Buffalo/Fort Erie areas.
The senator’s call for action – made to Janet Napolitano, U.S. President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Homeland Security, during a DHS oversight hearing in Washington, D.C. this past Wednesday, Dec. 9 – follows in the wake of continued decline in cross-border traffic in recent years that has proven costly to businesses and jobs on both sides of the Niagara River.
Napolitano responded by saying she would work with Schumer and Canadian officials to correct any “misinformation” Americans and Canadians may have about the requirements in place under the American-sponsored Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) for crossing the border.
The requirements which, since the spring of last year, make it mandatory to show border officers a passport, enhanced drivers’ license (from states or provinces where they are now available) or a NEXUS card) to cross back and forth. In some cases, citizens on both sides have decided not to spend the time and money purchasing any of this identification, or are confused enough by the rules that they don’t bother trying to cross.
The result of all this has resulted in a decline of car traffic back and forth across the Peace Bridge of more than 14 per cent since 2004, according to statistics Schumer quotes in a recent news release. Bus traffic, according to reports, has also declined significantly.
“Western New York depends on cross border traffic, and it is suffering from a lack of tourism,” said Schumer at the Washington hearing. “Would you (Napolitano) be willing to work with me and commit to working with others to get an education campaign on both sides of the border to tell people what the requirements are and tell people that it isn’t very hard to cross the border?”
Politicians on the Canadian side of the border have expressed similar concerns. During an interview with this reporter earlier this fall, Niagara Falls, Ont. Mayor Ted Salci he’s received reports that since 9/11 and up to and including the recent requirements for a passport or comparable identification, the number of Americans crossing the border to his and neighbouring towns has declined by about 40 per cent.
“More needs to be done to let people know that our border is open,” said Salci.
Schumer said an education campaign on both sides of the border would be an “important step in both improving the economy (and) enhancing security. (It) will go a long way in combating the misinformation that is keeping people from crossing the border.”
Unfortunately, Napolitano was an agent of some misinformation herself last March when she said the Canadian and Mexican borders should be treated the same (despite the obvious crisis around the flow of undocumented immigrants and trafficking of drugs and arms across the U.S/Mexico border), and she went on to suggest that some of the 9/11 terrorists entered the U.S. from Canada, which was untrue.
She later admitted that she made a “misstatement” about the origin of the 9/11 terrorists and apologized. But she also said she was taken aback about how sensitively Canadians reacted to her misstatement, suggesting that she did not realize how much this same misstatement, made by some U.S. officials and media outlets in the past, hurt efforts to have a rational discussion about security at the Canada/U.S. border.
If it hasn’t already, all of that should be forgiven if Napolitano leads the charge in returning border-crossing traffic to levels that benefit people and businesses on both sides.
(As Niagara At Large was about to post the above story, some of our Canadian readers drew our attention to another border-related piece that appeared on the website for the Council of Canadians, a national citizens’ group dedicated to protecting Canadians’ independence. We include this story below.)
New maritime security law will deputize U.S. officers “in every part of Canada” during integrated operations
Thursday, December 10th, 2009 – Stuart Trew (http://www.canadians.org/tradeblog/?p=586)
Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano signing the “Shiprider” agreement in May 2009
On November 27, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson tabled legislation that would transform designated U.S. police and security agents into peace officers equal to the RCMP “in every part of Canada” during joint maritime border operations. As if holding the RCMP accountable <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/the-man-who-confirmed-what-we-all-suspected-about-the-rcmp/article1395025/> for its officers’ actions isn’t hard enough, nothing in the new legislation should make Canadians feel comfortable that any complaints against U.S. agents operating on Canadian territory will be dealt with swiftly or fairly.
Bill C-60, the Keeping Canadians Safe (Protecting Borders) Act <http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Parl=40&Ses=2&Mode=1&Pub=Bill&Doc=C-60_1&File=59#10> , is being sold by Van Loan and Nicholson as a way to “strengthen cooperative bilateral policing efforts to stem the flow of cross-border criminal activity in shared waterways and further protect community safety and security in Canada.” It is the legislative face of a cross-border “Shiprider” agreement dreamed up by past governments <http://www.canadians.org/integratethis/insecurity/2008/Mar-20.html> under the now defunct Security and Prosperity Partnership and signed this May by Van Loan and U.S. Homeland Security czar Janet Napolitano.
But Bill C-60 will go further than coastal waters. Section 11 states:
In the course of an integrated cross-border operation, every designated officer is a peace officer in every part of Canada and has the same power to enforce an Act of Parliament as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (italics mine).
In the case of a complaint against a U.S. officer deemed a ‘designated officer’ by the RCMP commissioner, there doesn’t seem to be any way to guarantee a fair hearing because so much is left to the discretion of the force and the public safety minister. Even if you do end up with a full public hearing, there is every chance it will actually be private because of broadly worded exceptions:
23. (10) A hearing to inquire into a complaint must be held in public, except that the Commission may order the hearing or any part of the hearing to be held in private if it is of the opinion that during the course of the hearing any of the following information will likely be disclosed:
(a) information the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to be injurious to international relations, the defence of Canada or any state allied or associated with Canada or the detection, prevention or suppression of subversive or hostile activities;
(b) information the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to be injurious to law enforcement;… (italics mine in both cases)
The public hearing into the tasering of Robert Dziekanski was clearly injurious to law enforcement and has renewed calls for the Canadian government to reform the practice of police investigating themselves. Would the new joint maritime security bill rule out public hearings into taserings on the Great Lakes?
DETENTIONS AT SEA
What about accountability in the case of people arrested or detained in shared waters?
Under “detentions of persons,” Bill C-60 states that:
12. (1) The laws of Canada apply to any person detained or taken into custody within Canada in the course of an integrated cross-border operation.
(2) No person referred to in subsection (1) may be removed from Canada, except in accordance with the laws of Canada.
The laws of Canada apparently allowed Canada Border Services Agency officers to drive Algerian refugee claimant Benamar Benatta <http://http:/www.amnesty.ca/take_action/actions/canada_rendition_benatta.php> over the border into the United States in late 2001 where he spent the next five years in prison under conditions the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called tantamount to torture. The RCMP was also happy to leave Maher Arar with U.S. security officers at JFK airport in New York, who quickly deported the Canadian citizen to torture in Syria and have yet to admit their mistake.
WHY DO WE NEED THIS BILL?
On top of the obvious questions raised above there’s the lack of any evidence from Van Loan, Nicholson or the Conservative government that we need to let U.S. security officers cruise around the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway and other shared sea and inland waters with the same powers as Canadian police officers. What was so wrong with the previous arrangement that we need extraordinary measures?
You can write to Ministers Nicholson (NichoR@parl.gc.ca) and Van Loan (VanLoP@parl.gc.ca) to get their answers. You can also click here to find your MP’s contact information <http://canadians.org/action/contact_reps.html> to let them know you expect them to ask these questions and more when Bill C-60 comes up for second reading in the House. We’ll keep you posted about when that might be.
Niagara At Large 