OTTAWA: The national president of the Customs and Immigration Union (CIU) that represents border services officers has some “huge concerns” about a proposed unmanned, alternative customs reporting station on Cornwall Island. Jean-Pierre Fortin didn’t mince his words about it in an interview with the Standard-Freeholder during a Friday visit to the city to meet with officers at the Cornwall port of entry.
“I was astounded when I heard (about the proposed plan),” Fortin said. “The trigger (for Friday’s) visit was the article I read in your newspaper (appearing Nov. 1). . . the CBSA never approached me, they never told me about that.
“The officers were very surprised, they said, ‘J-P, we heard about it through the paper.’”
The CBSA and Akwesasne representatives are close to an agreement that would allow Cornwall Island residents returning home from the United States to report to Canadian customs without having to go into the City of Cornwall to do so. The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne has long requested a different arrangement, and in September the CBSA presented it with a proposal.
The plan would have an unmanned station built on Cornwall Island, and only those registering for the alternative reporting process would be able to use the station.
“The benefits are that it eliminates the need for a longer trip to (Cornwall), it reduces the wait times at the Cornwall port of entry, and, most importantly, there will not be any CBSA officers present on Cornwall Island,” MCA Grand Chief Abram Benedict said last week. But Fortin and officers are certainly not on side, at this point at least.
“We have huge concerns; several of them,” Fortin said. “We feel everybody should be reporting to our officers when they come into Canada. . . I spoke to my officers (Friday) to hear their concerns, and that is a main one.”
Fortin said the only remote port currently in Canada is the Morses Line crossing between Quebec and Vermont, but it’s one that’s staffed much of the day, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. He said the renovations required to bring the crossing up to speed technologically were close to $16 million.
“Can you imagine the number of officers we could hire (with $16 million), instead of having a remote?” Fortin said. Fortin said he has spoken with the officers who monitor the video from the Morses Line, and that they’re stationed at a facility in Hamilton.
“They tell me it’s dangerous – you can’t see everything with (only) a few cameras,” Fortin said.
Fortin said he presumed Cornwall Island camera monitoring would be done from Hamilton too, and that officers in Cornwall would be alerted to any situations or emergencies at the unmanned station and be required to travel onto Cornwall Island to deal with it.
“So you get a call from Hamilton to go inspect something on (Cornwall Island), but you can’t go onto the island armed?” Fortin said. “I really don’t see the point of having a remote (station) so close to customs offices (at the Cornwall port of entry).”
