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Bordering on indifference

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Most people who cross the Canada-U.S. border pose no risk whatsoever. The mission of border guards should be to root out the small number of travellers who do.

This is an approach the Americans generally abide by in attempting to keep terrorist threats, drug traffickers and other undesirables out. But based on a report presented this past Monday to Canada's Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, the same can't be said for our country.

According to Canadian border agents, the existing Border Management Plan does not encourage them to identify and thoroughly search suspicious travellers; instead, it actively discourages them from doing so. With managers' bonuses tied to quotas based on the number of searches conducted, and an effort to conduct border operations on the cheap, guards wind up favouring easy, superficial searches -- often of those who pose little potential threat. As a brief prepared for the Senate committee outlines: "This 'numbers game' is a public relations exercise that focuses on having more searches performed rather than on finding anything."

Further discouraging proper targeting of genuine security threats is the fact Canadian border guards are unarmed. As a result, guards sometimes shy away from dangerous situations, including a recent incident in which 110 Ontario guards stepped down rather than confront an armed escapee believed to be heading to the border from the U.S. side.

Our agents' focus on collecting duties rather than defending national security is also problematic. As anyone who has driven into Canada from the United States can attest, there is often far more interest in whether one has purchased alcohol or tobacco than whether guns, drugs or other truly dangerous items are being transported.

What is needed at our borders is a wholesale change in philosophy. At present, Canada's approach is still rooted in a bygone era in which travellers exceeding their shopping quota really was the biggest concern. While our neighbours have vastly ramped up their security post-9/11, for the most part we're still acting as though it's the same old world.

Canadian border guards need not clog the borders with excessive screenings of every vehicle that passes through. But they could usefully borrow some of the U.S. techiques -- including thorough rather than superficial searches of suspicious vehicles, lines of questioning designed to trip up those lying about their destinations and intents and, yes, a degree of profiling to ensure they don't waste their time probing travellers who pose no threat.

These changes are not up to individual guards to undertake on their own. In addition to guns, they must be armed by their superiors with a new focus on defending Canadians' security.