Pubdate: Fri, 24 Aug 2012
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2012 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/letters.html
Website: http://www.calgaryherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Lee Berthiaume

NUKES, NOT DRUGS, TOP BORDER RADAR

Due to a lack of resources, Canadian border agents have been told to 
stop looking for illegal drugs leaving the country and instead focus 
on stopping the export of illicit nuclear material and stolen cars.

The directive, contained in an internal memo to Canada Border 
Services Agency managers that was obtained by Postmedia News, is 
unlikely to make officials in the United States and other countries very happy.

But analysts say that in an age of finite resources, the agency has 
decided it makes more sense to target areas where it thinks it can 
make a difference.

"It takes enormous resources to catch smuggled drugs," said Eugene 
Oscapella, a founding member of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.

"You're looking for a needle in a haystack, or probably something 
smaller than that. And maybe this is just a nod to reality that 
they're saying they can better spend their resources elsewhere."

The Canada Border Services Agency, or CBSA, represents the front line 
government organization for managing the flow of goods to and from 
the country. This includes an export program charged with preventing 
prohibited or illegal items from being smuggled to other countries.

At the end of June, regional CBSA managers across Canada received a 
memo that told them they were to focus on three priorities, namely 
stopping the export of illicit nuclear material and stolen vehicles, 
and enforcing other departments' export bans.

This last category includes the smuggling of endangered species, 
hazardous waste and electronic waste.

"The success of the Export Program in all modes and all regions will 
be based on the performance of the regions to meet those priorities," 
reads the memo.

But the memo goes on to say that because of "the limited number of 
resources available for export examinations, other commodities, 
including outbound smuggling of narcotics, unless there is an 
intelligence outlook, should not be undertaken."

CBSA spokeswoman Esme Bailey said the directive reflects the 
government's priorities, but that does not mean border agents will be 
turning a blind eye to outbound drug smuggling.

"While examination personnel should focus their limited resources on 
the three program priorities first this does not exclude their 
obligation to act upon other agency priorities, such as intercepting 
narcotics," she said in an email.

"When examination personnel detect narcotics in their daily 
activities, their obligation to take appropriate action remains the 
same: intercept, seize and arrest if applicable."

Bailey said CBSA seized more than 10,000 shipments of illegal drugs 
worth $1.6 billion last year, though she could not say how much of 
that was coming into Canada, and how much was destined for other countries.

Darryl Plecas, an expert on crime and policing at the University of 
the Fraser Valley, said responsibility for stopping the smuggling of 
drugs would generally lie with police forces, and it's unclear how 
many successful interdictions CBSA has undertaken.

But he lamented the message being sent to Canadian border agents. 
"It's always disappointing to hear that they're not able to do this 
or that because of limited resources," he said, "because that's 
leaving things on the table. What that memo is saying is they don't 
have the capacity to respond."

Oscapella said U.S. officials in particular will be unhappy with the policy.

"One of the criticisms of the United States was that we weren't doing 
enough to stop the flow the drugs into their country," he said.

"To the extent that people know where Canada is, this is not going to 
play well."

The export program has historically faced limited resources; an 
internal CBSA evaluation in November 2008 found that "export programs 
have been operating at a minimum level" due to personnel and 
budgetary constraints.

"Staff interviewed for this evaluation also acknowledged the 
challenges associated with an underfunded program," the report reads, 
"and that they are all 'doing the best they can with what they have.'"

An internal report prepared last October shows those problems have continued.

It said there are about 53 CBSA staff dedicated to export control - a 
number the agency described as "very limited."

They are responsible for targeting and examining an "overwhelming" 
8,000 to 10,000 export shipments per day.

As a result, border agents have failed to stop some shipments 
intended for Iran's surreptitious nuclear program.

Meanwhile, the union representing Canada's border agents has been 
warning about the impact the government's plan to slash 1,300 
positions and more than $143 million from the agency's budget over 
the next three years will have on services.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom