U.S. Border Guards Are About To Receive Alarmingly Broad Powers On Canadian Soil

A controversial Liberal bill, Bill C-23, which has been popularly dubbed the Pre-Clearance Act, has received royal assent. Although it is not yet in force, it is now law.

The Pre-Clearance Act relates to the powers afforded to U.S. border guards operating on Canadian soil. These border guards work in pre-clearance zones at Canadian points of departure to the U.S., like the Vancouver International Airport.

Canada-U.S. border congestion 'negligible,' yet $1B being spent on improvements

An internal Finance Canada document raises questions about the Harper government's billion-dollar project to open up land-border crossings with the U.S.

The report says truck traffic has fallen sharply as Canada's manufacturing sector slumps, and wait times at key border points are negligible.

Altogether, the document drawn up by federal bureaucrats suggests a thinning border, not the thickening border federal politicians have been warning about since 2001, which has prompted massive investments in bridges, highways and customs plazas all along the U.S. border.

Canada and the United States to announce new cross border deal today

WASHINGTON - Travel to the United States by road, rail and sea could undergo a major revamp as a result of an agreement set to be announced today between Canada and the U.S.

A U.S. government advisory says Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson will announce a pre-clearance customs agreement at a ceremony in Washington.

The governments have been negotiating a legal arrangement that would allow customs agents into each other's countries — so that they can screen passengers away from the border, and ease the choke points there.

Surprise. Stephen Harper’s U.S. border deal does imperil Canadian sovereignty

The U.S. government wants American police agents working in Canada exempted from Canadian law. If this is a surprise, it shouldn’t be.

The secret American demand was unearthed this week by Canadian Press reporters looking into Ottawa’s much ballyhooed border deal with the U.S.

Announced in 2011, the so-called North American perimeter security pact would give Washington the right to have its agents and police officers operate alongside their Canadian counterparts within Canada.

U.S. Border's Canadian Health Records Access Of 'Great Concern' To Privacy Watchdog

TORONTO - Ontario's privacy watchdog is probing reports that private health information is being shared with U.S. border services, saying it's a matter "of grave concern" to her.

Her office "will investigate the matter and ensure that the personal health information of Ontarians is not being compromised by any organizations under my jurisdiction," Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian said in an email to Ontario's New Democrats, who requested her help.

Canadian woman refused U.S. entry because of depression

A Toronto woman denied a flight to New York as part of a cruise trip wants to know how U.S. border agents knew about her history of mental illness.

Ellen Richardson says she was told by U.S. customs officials at Pearson International Airport on Monday that because she had been hospitalized for clinical depression in June 2012, she could not enter the U.S.

Surprise. Stephen Harper’s U.S. border deal does imperil Canadian sovereignty

The U.S. government wants American police agents working in Canada exempted from Canadian law. If this is a surprise, it shouldn’t be.

The secret American demand was unearthed this week by Canadian Press reporters looking into Ottawa’s much ballyhooed border deal with the U.S.

Announced in 2011, the so-called North American perimeter security pact would give Washington the right to have its agents and police officers operate alongside their Canadian counterparts within Canada.

Canada-U.S. Border: American Police Want Legal Exemptions, RCMP Says

OTTAWA - The United States wants its police officers to be exempt from Canadian law if they agree to take part in a highly touted cross-border policing initiative, says an internal RCMP memo.

The debate over whose laws would apply to U.S. officers working in Canada raises important questions of sovereignty and police accountability, says the briefing note prepared for RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson.

"Canadians would likely have serious concerns with cross-designated officers from the U.S. not being accountable for their actions in Canada."

U.S. wants exemption from Canadian law for cross-border officers, RCMP memo says

OTTAWA—The United States wants its police officers to be exempt from Canadian law if they agree to take part in a highly touted cross-border policing initiative, an internal RCMP memo says.

The debate over whose laws would apply to U.S. officers working in Canada raises important questions of sovereignty and police accountability, says the briefing note prepared for RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson.

I Was Detained and Interrogated at the Border for Carrying Condoms

What do you do when you're detained by powerful officials, everything you say is presumed deceptive, arbitrary "evidence" is held against you, and you're treated like a moral deviant? And what if its 2013, you're a woman, and the "evidence" is that you possess condoms?

It happened three times in two weeks -- being detained by U.S. border officials on my way to or through the States.

Sexism at the border: A personal account

What do you do when you're detained by powerful officials, everything you say is presumed deceptive, arbitrary "evidence" is held against you, and you're treated like a moral deviant? And what if its 2013, you're a woman, and the "evidence" is that you possess condoms?

It happened three times in two weeks -- being detained by U.S. border officials on my way to or through the States.

Beyond public view: Harper's Beyond the Border initiative a year later

A year ago this year, Prime Minister Harper and U.S. President Obama re-started a defunct or stalled North American "security and prosperity" dialogue only minus Mexico and with a new name: Beyond the Border. On December 7, 2011, Maude Barlow and I wrote:

    Based on news reports, the 32-point Beyond the Border Action Plan will create new checks on travel into and out of Canada and increase the amount of personal information that is shared with U.S. security agencies. It will announce new joint policing initiatives that could make it normal to have U.S. agents operating in Canada…. The perimeter deal will also likely commit to further convergence of Canadian and U.S. environmental, food safety and health regulations in areas important to large transnational business lobby groups.

Dodgy data might hinder perimeter pact's entry-exit tracking: border agency

OTTAWA - Canadian officials worry that the poor quality of information routinely collected from airline passengers could hamper a key feature of the perimeter security deal with the United States.

An internal Canada Border Services Agency briefing note warns the lack of reliable data might be an obstacle to compiling a comprehensive record of almost everyone who enters and leaves the continent.

The entry-exit tracking system, to be phased in over the next two years, is a crucial feature of the perimeter security pact unfurled with much fanfare a year ago.

When is a job interview too personal?

Braving tough questions during a job interview is one thing.

But the Canada Border Services Agency's deeply probing "integrity questionnaire" is a test that the Customs and Immigration Union says goes too far — with queries about applicants' drinking and gambling habits, their circle of friends, and even their histories of soliciting prostitutes.

Amid objections to the federal agency's 57-question survey for new recruits and aspiring career climbers, employment lawyers say job seekers are expecting interviewers to get more in-depth and personal when judging prospective hires.

Border agency hiring ‘mall cops’ to guard high-risk prisoners

OTTAWA — Canada’s border agency is hiring private security guard companies that normally patrol shopping malls to guard “high-risk” prisoners, including one so violent his own lawyer says he shouldn’t walk the streets alone.

Canada Border Services Agency says it’s cheaper than using their own armed officers as security guards and that they are doing it across the country.

Border agency delves into workers’ personal lives with ‘integrity’ survey

The Canada Border Services Agency is asking its employees whether they have ever hired hookers, if they have ever taken Prozac, how much they drink and gamble – even whether they’ve ever threatened a pet.

In a voluntary “integrity questionnaire” unheard of in the Canadian civil service (or possibly within any government), the 23-page document basically asks employees to admit to anything bad that they’ve ever done.

UAV Radar Tested Along U.S.-Canadian Border Can Track Slow Moving Vehicles and People

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. has just announced that it has completed the successful integration and operational testing of its Lynx Multi-mode Radar.

The system is a next-generation capability that integrates synthetic aperture radar (SAR), ground moving target indicator (GMTI), and dismount moving target indicator (DMTI) radar.

The testing was conducted in May by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/Customs and Border Protection (CBP) out of its National Air Security Operations Center in Grand Forks, N.D. That center uses Predators to patrol the Canada-U.S. border.

Last unstaffed border crossing closes between Stanstead and Derby Line

MONTREAL - In the age of heightened border security and tightening immigration restrictions, the Eastern Townships community of Stanstead seems to have existed in a kind of time warp for years.

Located next to Derby Line, Vt., it isn’t uncommon to see houses, office buildings, residential streets and even a public library split in half by Canada’s border with the United States.

“You could cook dinner in the U.S., walk into your dining room and eat it in Canada,” said 73-year-old Sydney Flanders, who has lived in Stanstead his entire life. “It’s definitely something unique, almost bizarre about our town.”

Cross-border policing provokes sovereignty worries - U.S. officers have powers to make arrests in Canada

When the Conservative government passed its controversial omnibus budget bill last month, it included new powers for certain U.S. law enforcement agents that critics say could have ramifications for Canadian sovereignty.

The Integrated Cross Border Law Enforcement Operations Act now makes it possible for American officers to cross the border into Canada where, as the act states, they have "the same power to enforce an act of Parliament as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police."

Canada U.S. Border Deal Allows U.S. To Share Canadian Border Info

OTTAWA - The United States will be allowed to share information about Canadians with other countries under a sweeping border deal.

The U.S. won't have to explicitly tell Canada about its plan to pass along the personal details in many cases, suggests a newly released binational privacy charter.

Information-sharing about security cases has sometimes been a sore point between the two countries since the 9-11 terrorist attacks.