Benefits of Border Deal Will Be Felt Soon, U.S. Envoy Says

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The Vancouver Sun Jan 24, 2012

Canadians will start feeling the benefits this year of a new Canada-U.S border deal designed to better guard against terrorism and speed up cross-border traffic, says a senior U.S. official.

The prediction was made Monday in an interview with Postmedia News by David Heyman, assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Heyman was in Ottawa meeting with Canadian officials and others to discuss Canada-U.S. issues — notably the Beyond the Border action plan announced in December by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama.

The much-touted border-security deal came 10 months after both leaders launched negotiations to strike an accord. The result of those talks is an "action plan" that maps out a plan to adopt a joint "perimeter security" approach to protecting the border.

The reforms — many of them involving pilot projects that might not see full implementation for years — aim to integrate programs for Canada-U.S. security and to streamline the flow of goods between the two countries through pre-inspection and pre-clearance.

The success of the new strategy will hinge on the results of the pilot projects that are rolled out over the next two years, and the action plan also concedes that progress on many initiatives will depend on "the availability of funding."

Heyman said there's a strong reason for moving incrementally with pilot projects.

"It's not something you can turn on overnight. You have to get the plumbing and wiring right. We have to make sure that we can exchange information and work any glitches out."

Secondly, he said both countries won't know how much more staffing and funding is required for border operations until they test out the new initiatives.

Still, he said there is no doubt Canadians will start experiencing quicker access to the U.S. this year.

"There's dozens and dozens of pilot projects that are starting up this year that have to do with either trusted trader or trusted traveller programs that allow for expedited movement of either goods or people."

Other initiatives to be tested out this year include pre-clearance programs and expanding the lanes in which people cross the border, he said.

Among the highlights of the new plan:

• Enhanced tracking of travellers in both countries, and both nations will try to identify threatening people who seek to "enter the perimeter" of both countries so they can be stopped;
• An entry-exit system will be established in which both countries share information on when their citizens have crossed the border;
• Each country will obtain more information from people in foreign nations seeking to come to the U.S. and to Canada;
• Security officials, including armed police officers, will work as teams on either side of the border — with Canadian and American police officers venturing together into the territory of each nation;
• There will be joint screening of cargo coming from foreign countries to Canada and to the U.S., so that it is screened just once for both nations;
• Some companies in either Canada or the U.S. that ship goods across the border will be given "trusted" status so that the shipment is pre-screened at the factory instead of at the border;
• There will be more opportunities for Canadian travellers to obtain NEXUS cards to gain faster clearance at border crossings.
• Both governments, in their action plan, pledge to protect privacy and maintain national sovereignty.

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