DHS SECRETARY TO VISIT CANADA

May 20, 2009


Napolitano to visit, review Canada border safety

By TODD SPANGLER
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

WASHINGTON – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will travel to Detroit and Ottawa next Tuesday and Wednesday to talk about border concerns and business interests with Canada.

It comes as Napolitano has caused concerns in Canada with remarks which some say indicate she believes America’s northern border should be controlled as tightly as the southern one, with Mexico.



Many in Canada see tightening border security as an economic threat between the world’s two largest trading partners – and Detroit in in the middle of it, with the Ambassador Bridge being the busiest trade crossing in the U.S. Nearly a quarter of all trade between the two countries travels across it and border delays are seen as a problem that could cost shippers dearly.





In March, Canadian Press reported Napolitano as saying, “One of the things that we need to be sensitive to is the very real feelings among southern border states and in Mexico that if things are being done on the Mexican border, they should also be done on the Canadian border. ... We shouldn’t go light on one and heavy on the other.”





Much of Washington’s attention and resources, however, have traditionally focused on the southern border and efforts to stem illegal immigration there.





In an interview this week with the Christian Science Monitor, Napolitano said her Canadian trip is intended to smooth feelings and look into genuine issues which may confront the two nations.



“There are issues about the security of that border, in part because Canada has different rules for who it allows to come to its country than we do,” she told the Monitor.



During an April interview with Canadian Broadcasting’s Neil Macdonald, Napolitiano caused a stir by suggesting that terrorists associated with the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, may have come across the Canadian border – which is at odds with the findings of the 9/11 Commission. She later said she knew that none of the Sept. 11 hijackers had come through Canada and her response to Macdonald’s question was misunderstood.



Her visit also comes as the private owners of the Ambassador Bridge continue to battle against a proposed publicly owned span which state, regional and federal governments are backing about a mile down the Detroit River. Canadian officials have argued that the new bridge – the Detroit River International Crossing – is a priority.





Details of the trip were not yet released, other than to say Napolitano would travel to Detroit and Ottawa to tour northern border operations and meet with Canadian Minister of Public Safety Peter Van Loan; Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney; and other Canadian officials about shared border concerns, business interests and the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative—which will go into effect June 1.





This is the first of what are expected to be twice yearly meetings between high-level Homeland Security staff and Van Loan’s agency to manage northern border issues.





“As close neighbours, our security and trade interests are shared,” said Van Loan. “The prime minister reminded us recently that threats to the national security of the United States also represent threats to Canada. The secretary’s visit will allow us to advance initiatives and develop a mutual appreciation of the economic importance of smooth trade and the progress both countries have been making to improve security.”