Canada Works With U.S. on Border Security

Your Dec. 16 article, “Filling In the Holes on a Porous Border,” is wrong when it suggests Canada is a weak link in North America. We are friends, neighbors and loyal allies. Canadian forces are serving alongside Americans in the campaign against terrorism.

In the wake of Sept. 11, Canada’s Parliament legislated new anti-terrorism laws which, for example, cut off sources of financing for terrorists. On Dec. 3, Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan signed a cooperative agreement dealing with deterrence, detection and prosecution of security threats, the disruption of illegal migration and the efficient management of legitimate travel. On Dec. 12, Tom Ridge [Homeland Security chief] and the Canadian foreign affairs minister adopted a joint agenda--Smart Border for the 21st Century--to deter, detect and prosecute security threats and illegal migration, while facilitating the world’s biggest bilateral trading relationship--over $1.2 billion daily.

In the last six years we have stopped more than 33,000 people with false documents before they boarded planes destined for North America. Americans are concerned about who is trying to come south, and it bears repeating: None of the Sept. 11 terrorists entered the United States via Canada. We are just as concerned about who and what are trying to go north. For example, 90% of the guns used in crimes in Canada are smuggled in from the United States. More than one-third of the refugee claimants Canada received last year came through the U.S. Our border policies reflect our different sovereignties, but our objective is the same: safeguarding North America for freedom and democracy.

Colin Robertson

Consul General

Canadian Consulate General

Los Angeles