Canada enhances border inspections, questions

Canadian officials announced Wednesday that with war looming between the United States and Iraq, there would be increased vigilance along the Canadian border.

The enhanced security could include increased inspections, more detailed questioning, and more intensive document review by Canada Customs and Revenue Agency agents, Canadian Revenue Minister Elinor Caplan said Wednesday in a press release.

Canada will continue to operate joint programs with the United States that allow pre-approved U.S. travelers and commercial cargo haulers to cross quickly with limited delay into Canada from the United States.

The United States also will continue to operate those programs for Canadians, Janet Rapaport, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection in New York City, said Wednesday.

One of the programs, known as FAST, for “free and secure trade,” uses scanners and pre-inspections of low-risk cargoes to enhance the flow of commercial cargo across the border, according to Dawna LaBonte, a communications officer with Canada customs.

The program, which is used primarily at large land ports between the two countries, is not used at ports between Maine and New Brunswick and Quebec.

The NEXUS program is a similar program for pre-approved, low-risk travelers, LaBonte said. She did not believe that that program was used along the U.S.-Canada border in Maine.

U.S. Customs has suspended its use of the Remote Video Inspection System, or RVIS, at all remote U.S. ports of entry, including at Orient and Forest City in Maine.

The RVIS program, which was part of the CANPASS program between the United States and Canada, allowed pre-approved residents of both countries to travel across the border into the United States by presenting a special pass at a remote terminal when certain remote ports were closed.