Provincial patrols at Canada-U.S. border called ‘expensive taxi service’

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OTTAWA — Provinces that are sending conservation officers and other local authorities to patrol the Canada-U.S. border are setting up what the president of the union representing border officers calls “history’s most expensive taxi service,” given that anyone caught crossing illegally must ultimately be delivered to border agents.

Mark Weber, national president of the customs and immigration union, questions what role these officers are playing, outside of being sent to try and soothe the border security concerns being expressed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has demanded Canada take additional steps to prevent the flow of migrants and fentanyl from making its way south of the border, under threat of hitting the country with 25 per cent tariffs.

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“I don’t know what we’re doing on the Canadian side in terms of stopping things from going into the U.S. … that is not our job,” he said in a recent interview.

“It’s really a lot of, from what we could see, border theatre.”

The Canada Border Services Agency is responsible for controlling the country’s borders at official ports of entry. The RCMP, meanwhile, is in charge of policing between official crossings.

Last fall, as Ottawa searched out ways to bolster border security in the face of Trump’s threat of imposing tariffs, Weber’s union called on the federal government to reconsider that longstanding division between the border agency and RCMP, to allow border officers to patrol between ports of entry.

The Canada-U.S border, spanning nearly 9,000 kilometres of land and water, remains the world’s longest undefended boundary.

Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who served as public safety minister at the time, said while he had raised the idea with RCMP brass, it was not an idea the government was pursuing, in part because such a change would take time when more urgent action was needed. Last fall, it announced a six-year $1.3-billion border plan, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promising on Monday to have “24/7 eyes” on the border, after striking an agreement with Trump to see tariffs delayed by 30 days.

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With Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec having already sent or plans in the works to send provincial police officers and those form other agencies to patrol the border, Weber called it “baffling” that border officers were still not permitted to do so.

Chief among the union’s concerns were the limited powers held by these officers, given they cannot enforce federal laws.

A memo circulated last month directed at the border service’s “law enforcement partners” instructed that should they encounter a migrant trying to cross into Canada between official entry points, they should contact border officers at one of three locations across the Prairies.

“That’s going to be history’s most expensive taxi service,” Weber said. “Why aren’t we the ones doing that?”

He compared the situation to placing border officers on the side of a highway to issue speeding tickets.

“We can’t do that, so we stop you and drive you to the police station to give out tickets. Why would you do it that way?”

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A response from Public Safety Minister David McGuinty’s office as to whether the Liberals were open to expanding the border services agency’s role was not returned by press deadline.

A spokesman for the border services agency said in a statement that it welcomes “the collaboration of all partners in bringing intercepts to us,” adding both RCMP and local police have the power to bring someone suspected of crossing illegally into Canada to border agents, who will determine their eligibility for an asylum claim.

“These are complementary sets of authorities that enable a country-wide effort along the border,” wrote spokesman Guillaume Bérubé.

Across the Prairies, governments that have redeployed conservation and other officers to assist to help at the border have acknowledged their limited role.

In Saskatchewan, where 16 provincial highway patrol and conservation officers have been redeployed to do regular patrols “and public safety campaigns” in the southernmost part of the province, a government spokesperson said should they encounter a migrant suspected of trying to cross into Canada “officers have been advised to engage with the RCMP.”

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Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis said in a statement that Alberta’s new specialized team sheriffs which it sent to the border said they can arrest and charge anyone suspected of a Criminal Code or provincial offence.

“If an arrest is made under federal legislation, sheriffs would deliver the person to the Canada Border Services Agency or RCMP for further investigating and charging.”

The extra set of eyes is excellent, but the abilities that that individual has to (actually) follow up on the investigation is limited

In a recent press conference, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew characterized the conservation officers being sent to boost patrols along the U.S. border in the province’s south as being an “additional set of eyes and ears,” with the hope they could intervene in cases where people may be in distress.

He referenced the 2022 freezing death of an Indian family who died trying to cross into the U.S., from Canada, as well as cases of other individuals who almost died walking across the boundary into Canada is temperatures dipping to -30C.

“If there are people who are in those vulnerable circumstances as we’ve heard about recently, you know we’d like folks to be able to help out,” Kinew said. “But at the same time we’ve got to be respectful of other folks’ jurisdiction.”

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A vice-president with the National Police Federation, the union representing RCMP members, said he believes the extra assistance is positive in the “interim.”

Dennis Miller says he has questions about training, noting there is a difference between Ontario and Quebec sending sworn police officers to help at the border and other provinces sending sheriffs and conservation officers.

“My concern there is it’s really nice to throw a number out there. It’s another thing to actually put those feet on the ground and actually have them doing that job,” he told National Post in an interview.

When it comes to bolstering border enforcement, he said the RCMP must be properly resourced to do so.

Regardless of whether an officer from a provincial police force or other agency intercepts someone trying to cross illegally or stops the flow fentanyl, the Mounties, along with border services, are responsible for investigating.

“The extra set of eyes is excellent, but the abilities that that individual has to (actually) follow up on the investigation is limited,” said Miller.

National Post

staylor@postmedia.com

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