Canada and U.S. to Renew Joint Clearance Talks

The U.S. and Canada will take another look at stationing customs officers in each other’s country to clear goods before they arrive at the border.

The Obama administration made a commitment to re-examine the clearance issue after a meeting last month between Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, according to a spokesman for the minister.

The two countries considered the idea five years ago. Canadian officials proposed zones where customs officers could work side-by-side at a site away from the border, to expedite the movement of goods while maintaining border security.

The idea stalled after Canadians raised questions of national sovereignty, because armed U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspectors would be allowed to operate on Canadian soil. At the time Canadian customs officers also were unarmed, but the government began a 10-year program to train Canada Border Services Agency officers to carry firearms on duty. As of June 2008, 496 CBSA had been trained.

When the proposal for clearance zones was put forward in 2004, CBSA was among the groups that questioned if the idea was workable without extensive legislative changes. The idea gradually faded from view.

Neither country is apparently willing to act on the idea yet. “The commitment is simply to examine the issue again,” Christopher McCluskey, Van Loan’s communications officer, said after the minister’s meeting with Napolitano,

According to the Windsor, Ont., Star, a local member of Parliament suggested the Windsor-Detroit border crossing would be a logical site for a pilot program.