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Canada’s new border security plan: Where’s the people?
December 20, 2024

$1.3 billion is a lot of money, but it’s nothing more than a good start.

I watched the announcement of Canada’s $1.3 billion six-year plan to “beef up the U.S.-Canada border with helicopters, drones, surveillance towers and sniffer dogs”, as well as a "joint strike force" to target transnational organized crime”, with great interest. Sounded pretty good to the uninformed voter. But what the announcement didn’t include was people to do the work.


All of this comes as a result of President Elect Trump threatening tariffs on Canadian goods if Canada doesn’t get its border security act together. He is concerned that people are illegally entering the U.S through Canada and there is fentanyl being manufactured in Canada and heading south as well. Valid concerns but who’s problem is it? Some argue that the U.S. is responsible to ensure contraband and people don’t enter their country illegally, and not Canada. I agree BUT, as good long-time neighbours and allies, I think we do have a responsibility to work with our American friends for the benefit of both countries. We have tons of guns and narcotics coming north, they have some illegal aliens and drugs heading their way. It makes sense that we work cooperatively.


The recruiting of 100 to 150 people for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and RCMP combined as quoted in the media follow-up, will not go far in conducting investigations, gathering and analyzing intelligence, operating the technology, stopping illegal aliens to and fro, interdicting vehicles and people with smuggled goods on the ground and making arrests. Our border is over 5000 miles long and needs to be secured 24 hours a day, every day of the year to keep deadly guns and other dangerous commodities from entering our country. The meager promise of 150 people maximum would equate to an extra officer here and there in various locations across the land. It’s peanuts.


Helicopters, drones and other technology are very costly musts in the security realm, and long overdue, so that’s a good thing. Acquiring the resources and then maintaining them are tremendous costs to consider going forward, however. $1.3B over a six-year duration will not go far.


CBSA only works at border ‘Points of Entry’, or what Canadians know as border crossings. Interdiction between those points is the responsibility of the RCMP from coast to coast. Mark Weber, the President of the Canada’s Customs and Immigration Union, says CBSA lost 1100 officers under the Harper government and are currently short between 2000 and 3000 members. Weber lists a number of things their officers do not have sufficient staffing to do each day, like check international railway traffic. They didn’t check shipping containers at the Port of Montreal until this past year either, but they redeployed officers for that purpose and have recovered many stolen vehicles that were destined for Eastern Europe and elsewhere. The redeployment of officers for that purpose means something else doesn’t get done at some other CBSA locations. It’s like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. Eventually the ship is going to sink and that’s unacceptable when it comes to border security – which includes national security issues to some extent.


Recruiting, training and equipping officers comes at a tremendous cost, and would take a significant amount of time to see it through. The RCMP are already short thousands of officers across the 10 provinces. It is no secret in the policing world that they do not have the people to meet their current federal mandates now. A renewed focus on border integrity by the RCMP within their current funding and staffing envelopes is a pipe dream.


The RCMP has concerning vacancy rates in their provincial contract locations and have publicly stated they are in a recruitment crisis and struggling to meet the needs of their attrition rates. The National Police Federation (the RCMP member’s association) has stated that they are short 1000 officers to modernize and bolster the RCMP’s Federal Policing Program, which includes Border Integrity. Through no fault of the members themselves, the RCMP is hurting.


The announcement also spoke of information sharing and a U.S. / Canada “Task Force” to patrol the border. But to some extent we already do.


I’m sure Trump doesn’t have a clue that U.S. Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies do work very well together and share information regularly. The Canadian resources involved on that front aren’t plentiful though. It involves but a handful of bodies.


The U.S.-led Border Security Task Force (BEST) has been in place at several high-volume border crossings, i.e. Buffalo/ Fort Erie, Detroit / Windsor, etc., for 15 years or more, and in the U.S. / Ontario locations, the OPP, RCMP and other Canadian law enforcement agencies have officers imbedded in those units to facilitate information sharing and cooperative efforts. They are intelligence-led and do some great investigative and surveillance work on both sides of the border. So, it is happening to some degree. It’s just not nearly enough.


The need for more and larger teams would definitely be beneficial both ways, with sufficient federal staffing in place to monitor the border more broadly, 24/7. But, once again, that requires people – “our most important resource” and our most expensive.


Whether were talking about CBSA or RCMP personnel, one officer – fully trained, with salary, benefits and equipment would cost (give or take) $250k per year per. To give the RCMP and CBSA even 2000 members each would be an investment of $1B per year, and in my opinion that would not even begin to meet their current staffing shortfalls, let alone significantly enhance our border security apparatus.


None of these critical staffing needs could be acquired overnight. It would require a significant and long-term strategy and a tremendous financial commitment that is far above and beyond what is contained in this plan.


This cannot wait another six years to take shape. A political announcement to appease the incoming U.S President that contains some needed resources but a total absence of people, just doesn’t cut it. It has to happen now.

 

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However, he was chosen for the top job despite all that baggage. Conversely, he brings not one redeeming quality to the top position. From day one, it’s obvious that the new Boss is truly a “boss” and not a “leader.” He has old personal scores to settle and wreaks revenge on many employees that he doesn’t like. Not because they were dishonest, incapable or lazy, but because he perceives that they didn’t want him to return or didn’t always agree with his philosophies and rash actions during past affiliations. This activity causes panic among all employees who know they have no choice but to get aboard his out-of-control train or perish beneath it. Then – without any deep evaluation or thought, he makes tremendous cuts to many organizational programs – leaving thousands without work and lacking any strategy to provide much needed services to a vast array of client groups. He viciously cuts through the organization like a chainsaw through softwood. Why? Because he can. 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