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U.S. considers fence across Cdn. border
Motion would see construction of wall similar to one in place across Mexico

Randy Boswell
CanWest News Service


Saturday, December 17, 2005


Add the spectre of security walls rising along "the world's longest undefended border" to a federal election campaign already being driven by debate about Canada's relations with the United States.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted late Thursday to consider erecting "physical barriers" along the American border with Canada, the firmest step yet toward building the kinds of fences now in place on the Mexican frontier to stop the northward flow of illegal aliens and smuggled goods.

The directive to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was passed by a strong majority of the House and contained in an amendment to a controversial immigration bill working its way through Congress.

The motion cleared the way for about 1,100 kilometres of new fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, but also urged the agency to "conduct a study on the use of physical barriers along the northern border."

Clashes between Prime Minister Paul Martin and U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins over climate change, handguns and softwood lumber -- prompting Martin's stump-speech pledge not to be "dictated to" by the U.S. -- have soured U.S.-Canada relations and prompted opposition claims the Liberals are recklessly provoking conflicts to win votes.

On Friday, a spokesperson for Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, who is responsible for handling cross-border security issues in the federal cabinet, said barriers have not been part of Canada's security strategy and have not been raised in bilateral discussions with the U.S.

"Given the size of the border, you're not going to have a wall all along the border," said Alex Swann, noting that "static" defences are widely viewed as less effective than risk-reduction measures such as identity cards.

"You never rule out anything in the security game," he added, but "it's not a priority for us."

Sponsored by Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who has long championed fences and walls to halt illegal crossings in the southwestern U.S., the plan to shore up America's borders passed by a vote of 260-159 on Thursday but was strongly denounced by some Democrats as a "Berlin Wall" for North America.

"America with walls between Canada and Mexico is not an America that reaches out for people to come here legally," argued Rep. Sam Farr, a California Democrat.

Farr's press secretary, Jessica Schafer, told CanWest News Service on Friday the congressman will keep fighting to have the fence provisions stripped from the final legislation.

"This would be a massive change in how the borders with Canada and Mexico operate," she said. "Canada is supposed to be our friend. Why in the world would we do this?"

Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, one of the strongest proponents of the immigration bill and a backer of the Hunter amendment, said during

Thursday's debate: "Our nation has lost control of its borders, which has resulted in a sharp increase in illegal immigration and has left us vulnerable to infiltration by terrorists and criminals."

There is a strong belief among many in the U.S. that Canada serves as a conduit for anti-American terrorists. Despite false suggestions that several of the September 2001 hijackers had entered the U.S. from Canada, the thwarting of Montreal-based "Millennium Bomber" Ahmed Ressam's planned attack on the Los Angeles airport in 2000 has fixed Canada as a "safe haven" in the minds of many Americans.

Earlier this year, the Minutemen volunteer border brigade drew controversy and accusations of being xenophobic vigilantes when it carried out its firstever northern patrols. And a grassroots U.S. lobby group called Let Freedom Ring -- which runs the website WeNeedaFence.com and is strongly backing Hunter's proposals -- has also urged consideration of barriers along the U.S.-Canada border.

Last month, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced a secure-border initiative that provided for increased use of unmanned "drone" aircraft, infrared cameras and other high-tech surveillance measures, as well as increased staffing, to patrol the Mexican and Canadian borders.

But driven by concerns in the U.S. southwest about the tide of illegal immigrants and goods, and touting the effectiveness of an existing barrier near San Diego, Hunter has pressed lawmakers to approve widespread border fencing as a national security imperative.

Hunter, who is also chair of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, claimed Thursday that the San Diego wall has "cut down on murders, it's cut down on smuggling, and it's brought order on both sides of the border."

Even before passage of Hunter's proposal, Mexican President Vincente Fox had denounced border fencing as a "disgraceful and shameful" initiative that violates human rights and does nothing for the U.S. economy. He has urged Congress to grant legal status to millions of Mexican illegals now living in the U.S.

Canada and the U.S. have long and proudly promoted their shared management of the world's longest "undefended" border. But the official terminology describing the boundary has been undergoing an adjustment recently to avoid leaving the impression of a frontier that's undefended against terrorism.

In a major speech during his visit to Canada last year, U.S. President George W. Bush made pointed reference to the merits of maintaining an "unfortified" border between the two countries while pressing ahead with measures to bolster security.

"Canadians and Americans benefit from the free movement of people and commerce across the world's longest unfortified border," he said at the time.

"Yet, we must work to ensure that our ports of entry are closed to terrorists and criminals and deadly weapons."