Guarding the U.S.-Canadian Border: Serious Business or a Frat Party?
PJM Calgary: There's not much that doesn't make it across the U.S-Canada border, which is "defended" by guards who don't pack heat on the job and who party in uniform during their free time. Heather Cook thinks Americans need to take a closer look at what's going on along the 49th parallel.
Americans and Canadians share what is commonly referred to as the longest undefended border in the world. We use the word “undefended” to mean that no military personnel are standing guard to prevent rabid liberal Canadians from invading the US and making everyone tag questioning interjections to the end of their sentences or bible-thumping Republicans from invading Canada and putting a stop to that nasty gay marriage business.
But, in fact, there is some level of defense. On both sides we have border guards of similar ilk: Frowning individuals prone to repeating questions and rifling through wallets for unpaid parking slips or receipts from Terrorists R Us.
In 2004 and 2005, I crossed the border in both directions several times. I was dating an American who eventually became my husband despite (or perhaps because of) US and Canadian border guards who questioned us for an average of three hours on each crossing. My favorite incident was when a Canadian guard looked at my then-boyfriend and said: “Sir, I’m going to ask this to you again when you come inside, so I’d like you to carefully consider your answer. Do you have any jewelry on your person? Like, perhaps, a ring?”
Romantic.
The American guards were no better. They suggested we might just as well “get on with it” and get married after reviewing all the trips we’d taken back and forth in the previous 12 months – all of which were stored in their system. Good old border guards doing their best to ensure no cross-border fornication outside of wedlock.
There was one difference between the American and Canadian border guards, however.
While the Americans were clearly packing heat, the Canadians were not. They were left to stop criminals from entering Canada with simple batons and cold, hard stares.
In September 2006, American authorities were tracking a fugitive they thought might be heading across the border to Canada. They informed the Canada Border Services Agency (CSBA) that an ”armed and dangerous” man may attempt to cross and that he was wanted for homicide. This was at 2 pm on September 24. At 2:15 ten guards at a British Columbia crossing walked off the job. Two hours later more guards from other crossings also left. By late that afternoon, signs on the road heading to several British Columbia crossings stated: ”All crossing closed. Expect long delays.”
What were Canadian border guards to do? Throw their batons at the guy as he sped through? According to a National Post article published the day after the incident the guards were “citing their right to refuse dangerous work under the federal Labour Code.”
And it wasn’t the first time.
In January (2006), news that two murder suspects from California were heading to the Peace Arch border crossing prompted up to 50 Canadian border officers to walk off the job. One month later, a Canadian customs officer refused to work at a border crossing in southeast B.C. because of fears that an armed American fugitive was heading to that station.
It was with incidents like this in mind that Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in 2006 that he would be arming Canadian border guards. And sure enough, recruits started graduating from classes in July 2007 with the hopes that at least 150 would be certified to carry guns by next March. That’s out of almost 7200 guards. Citing “security concerns,” no one is saying which posts will get the guards with guns, but you can be sure that the British Columbia crossings will be at the top of the list.
There are, however, a few snags.
First, the recruits (part of 1200 students hired each summer for training) don’t seem to be of very high quality. In fact, I wouldn’t trust them to guard a dead beaver. Reports CBC News:
Canada Border Services Agency officers who work in B.C. are being accused of posting inappropriate and offensive material, some of it directly related to their jobs, on the internet.
Thanks to the wonderment that is Facebook, you can see these recruits drinking in uniform and making lewd gestures, as well as read some high-level writing like: “I don’t have a gun… YET!!! You will be the first one to hear about it when serial killer Harper gives me one.” This same officer “also pictured in uniform on the web, posted responses to a quiz – answering that she has cheated on a test, smoked pot and felt like killing someone.”
On top of that, “one in five Canadian border guards have been flunking their shooting lessons” according to The Windsor Star. But don’t worry, they get do-overs, thanks to the Customs and Excise Union asking for leniency. Some of the trainees weren’t even fit enough to hold their arms steady for the three weeks of training.
So exactly who is defending Canada’s border? Is it time that the Americans took a closer look at what’s going on along the 49th parallel?
This question became even more pressing last week when a 13 month RCMP investigation resulted in the arrest of a six-year veteran of the Canada Border Services Agency.
Baljinder Kandola, a 35-year-old Surrey resident and a border guard for six years, faces six criminal charges: importing cocaine into Canada, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession for the purposes of trafficking, importing a restricted firearm, and breach of trust and bribery.
The CBSA has had its fair share of controversy in 2007 alone.
A former CBSA officer, Daniel Greenhalgh, was charged recently with three counts of sexual assault. He is accused of inappropriately strip-searching an 18-year-old woman in a public washroom at the Douglas border crossing, where he worked.
The US-Canadian border is known for its lax security so Americans should not rely on Canadians to clean up their act any time soon. On October 30, 2007, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) issued a news release which read:
Possibly dangerous people and goods were allowed to slip into Canada earlier this year because of problems at the country’s border agency, federal auditor general Sheila Fraser said in a report issued Tuesday. She said the travelers and shipments were labeled on watch lists as potential risks, but Canada Border Services Agency officers did not take a closer look at them.
The $781 million price tag and the estimated ten years that it will take to fully train CSBA officers mean that Canada’s border will remain as porous and undefended as ever.
Unless you want to marry an American. Then you’re practically Public Enemy #1.
Heather Cook lives in Calgary, Alberta with her husband, a former U.S. Army officer, and two children. She can be found online at heather-cook.com.
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14 Comments
1. David Thomson:“Unless you want to marry an American. Then you’re practically Public Enemy #1.”
Politically correct individuals are extremely reluctant to carry out their law enforcement duties in regards to dark skinned minorities. Thus, they particularly slam whites to prove to themselves that they take their jobs seriously. White guilt trip threatens our very survival.
Nov 7, 2007 - 11:46 am 2. pixologic:Let’s build an enormous bridge (or tunnel; tunnels are OK too) from Mexico to Canada.
Nov 7, 2007 - 2:28 pm 3. Mark Pergunas:Heather Cook is simply wrong on a number of points. While I can’t comment on the accuracy of her `Love Against All Odds’ personal anecdotes, I can speak to other aspects of this surprisingly sloppy and sarcastic article. First, contrary to her assertion, none of the recently armed officers were from the now infamous `Facebook’ class of recruits. They were selected from experienced front-line officers and supervisors. Second, their three week RCMP firearms training was the same `course of fire’ that RCMP cadets are allowed at least four months to pass. Third, before sneering at those who failed, please be fair and consider the challenge to a 5′ 3″, 125 lb. female officer having to hold a 2 pound semi-automatic pistol at arms length while pulling a trigger with 9 lbs resistance 1,800 times over a 6 day period and trying to consistantly hit a 12″ target 75′ away. I did it and succeeded, but it was very difficult. And I am 6′ and quite fit.
And the $700+ million Ms. Cook refers to? She could have mentioned that that also pays for significant facilities upgrades and 400 new officers to try to eliminate the current situation in which many officers actually work alone on the border.
As for the fools and crooks – every organization has them and works diligently to rid itself of them and Canada Border Services is no different. The vast majority of front-line officers are dedicated and hard working, doing what can occasionally be an extremely risky job. It is simply not accurate or justified to portray them, or the organization they belong to, as Ms. Cook has done.
And those job actions in British Columbia Ms. Cook refers to? It would have been appropriate (and fairer) for her to also include the fact that in the 2006 case, the flight of the two murder suspects ended in a gun fight about 10′ from the international border.
I expect these sorts of omissions and inaccuracies in a typical MSM product, but it is disappointing to see them appear in a PJM submission.
Nov 7, 2007 - 3:02 pm 4. pch1013:@ David T: The misdeeds of the (presumably dark-skinned) Baljinder Kandola do not seem to have gone unpunished by the “politically correct” Canadian government.
Nov 7, 2007 - 5:30 pm 5. Heather Cook:My sarcasm was obviously not appreciated. Hey, even I don’t appreciate my sarcasm every day. But the article is not sloppy. I could go on for 3000 words… but this is not Ode to Border Guards or a Treatise on the Complete History of the CSBA.
1. I did not assert that the recently armed officers were of the “facebook recruits”. I pointed out that 150 were to graduate by March. Some started graduating already. And here are some recruits partying it up. I do not know the identities of the recruits since that information is not released. The Partying Recruits released their own photographs from their time attending CSBA training … so, um.. again … Recruits in training… partying in uniform… ?? I sure hope these aren’t the ones who have already graduated and are now armed, I hope those ones flunked. I should expect that older, more experienced officers received their weapons training first.
2. Firearms training along with training on appropriate times to use firearms should be much longer than 3 weeks. End of story. The RCMP have more training because it’s an integral part of their job, they don’t just attend for a few weeks then forget about weapons for the rest of the training. The CSBA had NO firearms training and then tacked on a few weeks years later… the training to become a CSBA employee should now include weapons training.
3. Being 5′4 and not in ideal shape, I’m quite certain I could lift more than 2 lbs for longer. Why? Because I’ve done it and with heavier items.
4. I completely agree that “the vast majority of front-line officers are dedicated and hard working, doing what can occasionally be an extremely risky job.” Unfortunately that’s not what this article was about. I could write 3000 words, but would you read it all? Probably not..
5. Regarding the gun fight in 2006. That is exactly why I believe all CSBA guards should be armed.
I realize you work for the CSBA in a supervisory position, so I completely understand your natural tendency to respond to this article. I hope you can understand that as someone who has spent days of her life sitting and waiting to be asked about my love life by the CSBA, I have a certain level of frustration when I read about irresponsible recruits, a line of defense hampered by administrivia and a long delay in full compliance training.
I thank you that you are a line of defense for Canada and I understand that you have had to step in and replace CSBA employees who have walked off the job. You deserve a better work environment… and apparently some better new recruits.
My points were:
1) the CSBA has been unable to properly do its job.
2) they need guns if they are expected to do their jobs.
3) the new recruits suck, apparently.
4) it’s taking too long to train the CSBA employees to use their guns.
Thank you for your feedback.
4)
Nov 7, 2007 - 6:51 pm 6. Joe:Years ago my wife and I were questioned at the Canadian border by a youg woman who really seemed to like her official uniform. She also seemed very pleased to be jotting our answers down with a rainbow hair colored troll pencil which I’m guessing was not standard issue. In any case it kept me giggling throughout the interrogation.
Nov 8, 2007 - 12:09 pm 7. Kenneth:Heather, as a person with 15 years of service as a Canada Customs officer, and 3 years military police prior to that, I’d like to offer a few comments on your article.
Nov 8, 2007 - 2:32 pm 8. Heather Cook:First of all, let me emphatically state that these idiots who made stupid, derogatory, and ignorant remarks are not typical of CBSA employees and are certainly not typical of Customs officers. Personally, I wrote to the minister’s office about that issue and asked that if the allegations are found to be true, that our agency summarily dismiss these employees.
As for “partying in uniform”. I wonder – if I showed you a picture of me celebrating my military basic training graduation at the Green & Gold, CFB Cornwallis, along with the other 97 members of 11 platoon, class 8837, all of us in uniform, would you have declared the entire armed forces a defunct failure? Would my active service in the Persian Gulf be any less significant in hind sight? Now I know Heather – those weren’t your words. That’s the beauty of the power of the pen, isn’t it? You can so plainly make an implication and later exercise plausible denyability because “you didn’t say that”. Just like I’m not saying you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about – accuse me of it and I’ll deny it.
As for your cross-border romance. You display a fairly typical attitude in that you don’t acknowledge the possibility that many thousands of people before you have screwed up what might have been a simple matter through their own mis-deeds. Did you ever think that the officer asking about the ring might have had experiences in the past where someone tried to sneak in a valuable ring under very similar circumstances? Are you aware that the officer was giving you an opportunity to declare, because the law says once you’ve declared there is a point of finality and subsequent discovery of that ring would make it subject to seizure?
No – I suspect that hadn’t occurred to you. You’d rather just cast dispersions at the officer and Canada Customs in general.
Now Heather, I could go on for several thousand words telling you about the 14 year old Canadian girl who I kept from getting into the hands of a 50 year old American pedophile, the several drunk drivers I have taken off the very streets that you use daily, the guns and the drugs that I have taken out of circulation. I could go on forever about all the superb work my fellow officers and I do every day Heather, but that isn’t quite the sensationalism you were striving for. So instead I’ll just proudly put on my uniform and go to work Heather, and I hope I can stop the bad guy from getting in to your community tonight.
Thank you for your comments Kenneth.
I acutally have no issue being questioned at the border… until I hear about when CSBA and Immigration officers NOT doing their job. I’ve crossed the border numerous times in the past few years and I have not complained once, not in writing, not in person, not to fellow travellers. Because I know they are doing their job.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to write something about the controversies or about the irresponsible or wrong things happening. You don’t just let the bad seeds off the hook because the rest of the group is good any more than you write of the group for the bad seeds.
The ring incident had nothing to do with “sneaking a valuable ring” across the border. It was about the relationship. Pure and simple. Not because I’m guessing, but because they stated that clearly. I am aware that if we didn’t declare it and they discovered it that it could be subject to seizure. We weren’t just skipping merrily across the border having a fling, we were trying very hard to do everything properly and correctly. So yes, the “thought had occurred” to me.
I thank you, Kenneth, for keeping the bad guys out of my community tonight.
It’s apparent to me that you were not one of the individuals I was criticizing. I am sorry that wasn’t apparent to you, but (as I mentioned) I’m not just going to ignore bad seeds that should be pointed at because the rest of the group is doing their job. I’m glad you feel that some of those individuals should be dismissed. I do as well.
You are correct that the good work and the safe streets do not make the headlines. Is that why you came here? To look for a headline that said “Today everyone did their job.” I didn’t think so. Not many people come to internet news site (MSM or otherwise) to read about what went right in the world.
Nov 8, 2007 - 4:34 pm 9. Jason:I am in full agreement with Ken on this one. This article is in bad taste and belongs in a sleezy tabloid paper. Very sad indeed.
Nov 9, 2007 - 12:00 am 10. Kenneth:Heather.
Nov 9, 2007 - 8:07 am 11. Heather Cook:I’m glad to see your acknowledgment of the fact that your story was intended to be inflammatory and get attention, rather than to be some form of unbiased, accurate reporting or journalism, because that would be a misrepresentation.
What I find offensive is the fact that your article, and several others like it, tend to rant about isolated issues in a manner that suggests that the exception is actually the norm. They also tend to present certain facts in a way that intentionally leads the reader to unfounded and inaccurate conclusions. Furthermore, this particular topic is one that makes your job of raising the rhetorical ire of readers so easy its almost sad. I mean, who doesn’t want to complain about the big bad officer who took away their booze, or made them pay some taxes, or “tore their car apart”? Never mind what the complainer did to find themselves in that situation. Oh believe me Heather, I’ve heard pretty much all of the complaints and most of them – like 95% – are severely lacking credibility.
Where we agree though Heather, is that there are bad apples throughout our society and sometimes they make it into places like customs and police departments and even into journalism I’ll bet. No – we shouldn’t sweep the actions of those bad apples under the rug. We need to weed them out and journalists have a role to play there. I just wish they would be generally more responsible and not portray the actions a a few as if they were typical of the many.
You’re right that a headline reading “today everybody did their job” doesn’t get much attention. But I wonder how hard it would be to write an article that correctly points out that those bad or controversial incidents are rare, while still addressing the topic? I wonder why a writer such as yourself, finds it so difficult to say “despite the good work being done at our borders, there are a few who’s bad decisions make the rest look bad”?
No – again, that just isn’t sensational enough I guess. So then I wonder – why would our young people want to do a job like that? I mean most people will not care about any good they might do, but almost everyone will want to have their say if you slip up. In the end I guess it takes a desire to serve your country and your fellow Canadians and that is what makes it honorable.
Heather, I’m not criticizing what you’ve reported. I’m criticizing the manner in which you’ve chosen to report it. So thanks for letting me have my say, and maybe deep down this will give you pause the next time you sit at the keyboard, since there’s nothing wrong with tempering criticism with praise.
And such is the wonderful world of Pajamas Media… where the comments are open and writers encouraged to respond to comments so that the article is more of a living document. Not everything fits in one article.
Again, thank you for your comments Kenneth. I don’t find it difficult to say “despite the good work being done at our borders, there are a few who’s bad decisions make the rest look bad”. See, there. I said it.
But there are still issues and still problems with the CSBA that need to be addressed. The purpose of this article was to raise questions. I do not start out an article with the same purpose every time. Sometimes I write an article that has an opinion or two in it. I don’t think I’m unique in that regard.
I do think I’m unique in that I tried very hard during the time I was travelling frequently to do the right thing every time. We called and found out what information we’d have to bring to satisfy the CSBA and Immigration, bank statements, detailed travel plans, custody agreements… we tried very hard to do things correctly.
This reminds me… I should go visit that nice Immigration lady down at Portal/North Portal who gave us the ultimatum to get married or stop trying to cross the border so many times…
In regards to your comment, “I mean most people will not care about any good they might do, but almost everyone will want to have their say if you slip up.” I think you may just have to resign yourself to the knowledge that those out of uniform have a higher expectation of those in uniform.
I know I do. I give respect to people in uniform and people who risk their lives for the sake of taxpayers… and this is why I am so disappointed when idiots in uniform disrespect their fellow co-workers as well as taxpayers.
I think we probably agree on more than we disagree. I’d be interested in a future dialogue on this. Perhaps for a future article…
Nov 9, 2007 - 1:24 pm 12. Linda:I cross the border frequently as a commercial carrier. My own company.(Canadian) When first learning cross bordering both Canada and the USA it was trial and error. On the most part yes I had officers where were really helpfull. In the past year there have been a lot of changes with importing to Canada, and there is more to come by Jan.
Nov 10, 2007 - 10:55 am 13. Gerg:Recently when I was coming back into to Canada at Windsor border (commercial warehouse) there was another driver who was having difficulty with processing his paper work. The customs officer explained things then told him to fix it or he wasn’t crossing. After the driver left, the Customs office said ” I love it when I piss of a driver”. All I could think was great I’m next. It was early morning hours and we were the only 2 customers. Could they not have helped him.
Also can these border crossing not get their shit together and do things all the same. Every border you go to they all have different ways they want your paper work put together. One lady officer again about 2am told me if I didn’t get it right this time the next time I would be sent back to the USA. They like to use this to threaten drivers.
I think another topic you should start is Custom Brokers that DON’T do their jobs. The worst broker I have every delt with in the past 15 years is Livingston. Ask any driver.
I suggest you take a look at the Vermont-NY border next. I hear they have *nobody* guarding that one.
Nov 10, 2007 - 3:47 pm 14. Heather Cook:I might add:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071109.bc-guns-ATL/BNStory/National/home
I can only imagine the frustration for the border guards.
Nov 10, 2007 - 8:34 pm