Canada urges action to combat terrorism

TORONTO – A Canadian Senate report released Wednesday said customs agents should carry weapons as do their U.S. counterparts to prevent terror threats, and blasted Ottawa and Washington for not doing more to secure the shared border.

The arming of the Canadian border agents has long been opposed by the government.

A long-awaited report by the Committee on National Security and Defense said Canada and the United States have not progressed in tightening their 4,000-mile border.

“Despite what should have been the wake-up call of Sept. 11, 2001, there has been an unsettling lack of progress on both sides of the border to improve efficiency and strengthen security at land border crossings,” said the 192-page report.

Testimony before the committee revealed numerous gaps, including 139 border crossings where Canadian customs officers work alone. Some 62 Canada Border Security Agency offices have no access to the customs database to screen incoming travelers. Also, several airports that take in international flights have no on-site immigration checks.

Unlike U.S. Border Patrol agents, CBSA officers are unarmed. They are instructed to call the federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police or local police departments if threatened, but officers testified that help is often slow in coming.

“The committee has reluctantly come to the conclusion that if the federal government is not willing or able to provide a constant police presence at Canada’s border crossings, current border inspectors must be given the option of carrying firearms after successfully completing rigorous training in the use of such firearms,” the report said.

RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli, however, strongly opposes an armed border patrol, fearing some incidences would be unnecessarily inflamed if officers were armed.

“I know being at the border can be risky and there are certain dangers,” Zaccardelli testified in April before the Special Senate Committee on the Anti-Terrorism Act. “I am strongly against arming people simply to create the notion that we might feel more secure.”

Ron Moran, president of the union that represents some 5,000 customs agents, said he hoped Parliament would adopt legislation to implement recommendations in the Senate report. While the report praised the CBSA for helping protect Americans from their own “gun culture” – the CBSA seized 5,446 firearms at the border between 2000 and 2004 – Moran said most customs officers want more than batons and body armor.

“They’ll give you these protective vests, which protects you against somebody shooting at you. But they don’t give you any tools to shoot back,” Moran said. “There’s a fundamental concept in law enforcement, which is: When you’re defending yourself, you always have to go one-up. You’ll never be able to go one-up if somebody pulls a gun on you.”