Posted on 09/01/2006 5:38:33 AM PDT by GMMAC
PM to arm border guards
March 2008 is too long to wait, union says
Doug Ward
CanWest News Service
Friday, September 01, 2006
VANCOUVER - Canada will start arming its border guards as early as September, 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced yesterday.
Ottawa plans to train and arm 4,400 Canada Border Service Agency officers over the next 10 years. The federal government will also hire 400 permanent border officers to eliminate the problem of officers working alone at posts.
The Conservatives promised during the election they would hire more guards and also provide them with sidearms.
The Tory plan was endorsed as a "step in the right direction" by George Scott, national vice-president of the Customs Excise Union.
CREDIT: Andy Clark, Reuters
Prime Minister Stephen Harper greets Canadian
border guards after arriving at the Cloverdale
border crossing in Surrey, B.C. Harper announced
yesterday that Canadian border guards will be armed,
like their U.S. counterparts, starting in September, 2007.
Mr. Scott said sidearms would make it easier for his members to handle the stress of potentially facing terrorists or armed criminals.
The union official said Canadian border officers are equipped with bulletproof vests, pepper spray and batons, but unlike their American counterparts a few hundreds metres away, they don't carry sidearms. Speaking to reporters at the Pacific Border Crossing in Surrey, B.C., Mr. Harper said at least 150 officers with sidearms will be assigned by the end of March, 2008. About 500 to 600 will be trained annually during the 10-year period.
"Secure borders keep drug smugglers, car jackers and terrorists out," Mr. Harper said.
The introduction of arms at the border follows reports this year about unarmed border guards exercising their rights under the federal Labour Code to leave a dangerous work situation.
The Prime Minister said there have been 53 incidents in the past year in which officers left their border posts because they weren't armed to deal with potentially dangerous situations.
In January, news that two murder suspects from California were heading to British Columbia's Peace Arch border crossing prompted up to 50 Canadian border officers to walk off the job.
In February, a Canadian customs officer refused to work at a border crossing in southeast B.C. because of fears that an armed American fugitive was heading to that station.
"Our pledge recognizes the realities faced by border services personnel," Mr. Harper said.
"There are not enough border officers and all too often they find themselves alone and under equipped to deal with 21st century criminals."
Mr. Harper said the strategy to spend $101-million over the next two years on new officers and arms training will help Ottawa "tackle crime and protect Canadians' way of life."
Mr. Harper added: "This is not the be-and-end-all for law enforcement. Obviously, for very serious situations there will have to be police backup."
Mr. Scott acknowledged it is rare for borders officers to need firearms but added "there is always the possibility, particularly in the Greater Vancouver area. There is an awful lot of criminality going over both sides of the border."
In Windsor, customs officers applauded the news that some of them will begin to carry a firearm within a year.
Working every day at arguably the nation's most dangerous border crossings, Windsor CBSA officers have for years demanded an armed presence at both the Ambassador Bridge and Detroit-Windsor tunnel.
Officers there walked off the job in May after an alert to send a possibly armed man to secondary inspection, fearing for their own safety. They cited their right under the federal labour code to withdraw from work they believe to be dangerous.
"I'm quite happy to see the Harper government come through on their promise," said Marie-Claire Coupal, president of Local 18 of the Customs and Excise Union.
"Most definitely Windsor should be first on the list. We have a lot of incidents here on a daily basis. "Our officers often get quite concerned about their safety. In Windsor, we regularly see things other places don't see. I don't want to bad-mouth Detroit, but that's just the way it is."
The Windsor crossings are among the nation's leaders for weapons or confrontational incidents, said Ms. Coupal, although she did not have specific numbers at hand.
"Guns are not the answer to everything, but they offer us better security should problems arise," she said. "If we had our own firearms we would better be able to handle things ourselves. But right now, what do we do?"
Presently customs officers call Windsor Police and then wait for them to arrive to handle any crisis situations. Given that situation, even waiting another year for the first customs officers to be allowed to carry firearms is too long, Ms. Coupal said.
"We do have concerns over the length of time," she said. "We understand there needs to be training and it takes time to get people in place. But I don't see anything for the interim."
Ms. Coupal noted there are already at least 320 customs officers among the 5,000 nationally who are trained and licensed to handle firearms -- some of them former Canadian soldiers. They could be among those put in place immediately.
The Prime Minister conceded in Vancouver there is also a lack of up-to-date computer equipment at some border points and said the government will likely act on concerns "our officers have been underequipped."
© National Post 2006
PING!
Armed with more than a date-stamp? Woo hoo!
Heck, if that works out good, the government might even provide the guards with bullets in another 20 years. If you think I'm joking, look what's happening on the U.S.-Mexican border. Barney Fife had more bullets (one, to be exact).
Americans in the Detroit area just can't get enough of the Windsor Ballet..
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