BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING

It's always been a bit of a misnomer — the “world's longest undefended border.”

But what was true before will be even more so today, when the modern-day imperatives of homeland security will require Canadians and Americans alike to carry a passport in order to cross the 9,000-kilometre frontier and enter the United States.

But more than the political repercussions, I find this to be a really sad day. Since 1783 Canadians and Americans alike could cross the border with just a simple “How ya folks doin? Where are you folks from? Well… see ya folks later.” Americans are very folksy.

All over the globe people covet entry into the star spangled U.S.A. and we Canadians have always had the privilege of relativley free access to the greatest democracy in the world and they likewise have been able to freely trudge across our humble threshold and partake of our clean air and innocent wildlife. We are the younger shyer little brother with the special relationship to a grown up, charismatic sibling. All kidding aside, we like them - and they like us. It was like we knew the doorman at a very exclusive club…and it felt pretty cool.

One law dating back to the 1800’s actually reads: “Residents of both nations who own property adjacent to the border are required to report construction of any physical border crossing on their land to their respective governments, and this is enforced by the International Boundary Commission.” Who knew that if you had gotten in on this deal early you could have actually built your own border crossing? I found this little tidbit quite amusing.

In years past while living in Alberta, some friends and I would make a yearly ski trip to a great hill down in Kalispell Montana. Border entry was a small little affair consisting of 2 tiny huts on either side of the border. This crossing closed at midnight. We would just barely make it depending on traffic and winter road conditions and if you were to miss it you were stuck out in the middle of no where without any accommodations hoping your gas did not run out before monrning. Well the border guard on the American side would actually wait for us - keeping his border open way past midnight because he knew that we would eventually show up. He was sitting at his kitchen table just waiting for the company to arrive from Canada.

Later after he had closed up the "country" for the night he would meet us at a bar called the “First and Last Chance Saloon” for a cold one. Definitely not some final bastion of American defense. Just one heck of a good ole boy.

While the U.S. side is worried about easy access by terrorists via the Canada, what our side is realizing is that for us it is the traffic of illegal drugs, tobacco and firearms. This is a form of war and terrorism of a special kind and getting into the great white north has so far proven "easy peasy."

In past years Canadian officials have complained of drugs cigarettes and firearms smuggling from the United States while U.S. officials have complained of drug smuggling from Canada. Human smuggling into both countries has been an ongoing problem for border security and law enforcement personnel, although a minor one in comparison to the Mexico–U.S. border
In July 2005, law enforcement personnel arrested three men who had built a 360-foot (110 m) tunnel under the border between British Columbia and Washington they intended to use for smuggling marijuana, the first such tunnel known on this border.

Cornwall, Ontario, is central to Canada's most notorious area of smuggling. Its location and transportation links, make it a crossroads for cross-border smuggling of illicit tobacco, illegal aliens, drugs, and firearms smuggling industry is rampant, with collusion between local freelancers, and international organized criminals. Several lives have been lost by civilians as a result of police chasing smugglers; this on top of the hundreds of millions of dollars lost in uncollected government tax, and millions of dollars spent on law enforcement that has had a negligible effect on smuggling.

Officials at both borders say they will allow a period of grace for those who show up without the proper documents and that no instructions had yet been given to border guards to turn back anyone without them. However people who show up without approved documents will have their names entered into the agency’s computer system in case they showed up at the border again without proper documents. So you can't use the same story over and over ... or they will catch on to you. (I know I thought of that one too....)

Very "Orwellian." don't you think?

So although it is an end of an era, we all recognize that it is necessary. I don’t think it will stop any terrorist or drug runners. They will just have to come up with some different ways of getting through and don’t worry they will.

Til later