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March 20, 2008 The Department of Public Safety is reporting today that a joint RCMP-Homeland Security pilot project, which put U.S. security agents on Canadian maritime patrols and vice versa, will be made permanent. “During this most recent pilot project, which took place in the St. Lawrence Seaway near Cornwall and in the Strait of Georgia between British Columbia and Washington State, Shiprider officers boarded 187 vessels,” claimed the government press release. “In 39 separate incidents, Shiprider teams contributed to 41 arrests, with six of these being made directly by the integrated marine teams.” Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said: “The Shiprider pilot projects are an excellent example of our joint efforts to tackle cross-border crime. In keeping with this theme, it gives me great pleasure to announce today that our countries will begin negotiating a framework to govern the conduct of joint cross-border maritime law enforcement operations in shared waterways along the Canada-USA border.” Although not explicitly stated in the release, Shiprider is an initiative of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, which states: “Within 24 months (June 2007), assess the threat and risk of criminal and terrorist activities on the St. Lawrence Seaway – Great Lakes systems and develop coordinated maritime law enforcement programs with a specific interest in interdicting smugglers/traffickers and ensuring border security.” The joint policing initiative was described in more detail in a Friday, September 14 CanWest article that claimed, "U.S. Coast Guard officers are being made Canadian peace officers in an area off the south coast of B.C. and in a 100-km stretch of the St. Lawrence, with similar powers given to RCMP officers in U.S. waters." The unprecedented law enforcement initiative, "gives some members of the coast guard special privileges to act as law enforcement officers," said the article. The first-of-its-kind policing arrangement, which has resulted in armed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials--the Coast Guard falls under the umbrella of DHS--being granted peace officer status on Canadian territory, "is consistent with, and complementary to, commitments outlined in both the National Security Policy and the Security and Prosperity Partnership," according to an RCMP press release from 2005. According to an article in the RCMP Gazette from September 2005: "[F]or the first time in history, armed officers from the RCMP and US Coast Guard boarded each other’s vessels to patrol parts of the Great Lakes... Long-standing jurisdictional issues have prevented Canadian and American police boats from entering the other country’s waters. However, the pilot project overcame this hurdle with relative ease." That's because as long as there is an RCMP officer on any U.S. ship, that ship can allegedly move freely across the border. "Before the pilot can expand, however, it must meet the approval of both national governments," wrote the Gazette at the time. For a more recent description of the project in the Gazette, click here. Apparently our government approved Shiprider behind our backs because the project was initiated without any public announcement or public debate as to whether Canada needs or would even want armed U.S. Homeland Security officials on its territory. "No public announcement was made about the pilot project because authorities wanted to keep an element of surprise in their border strategy, but people have spotted U.S. officers in Canadian waters, forcing authorities to reveal some of the project's details," claimed the CanWest article on September 14. The Associated Press reported on September 24 that, "Since August, under a program called Project Shiprider, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers have occasionally been riding aboard two Coast Guard vessels and Coast Guard personnel have sometimes been on two Canadian enforcement boats in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and other inland marine waters." CBC radio also reported last year that U.S. Coast Guard ships have been entering Canadian waters in the St. Lawrence to investigate and even question Canadians, in one case simply for snapping photos. But Shiprider appears to go much further than patrolling shared waters. The RCMP and Coast Guard "are partnering with a number of other agencies, including provincial police, the Canadian Forces, U.S. state police and immigration and border patrol agencies to also develop the capability to pursue criminals on the ground and in the air," claimed Cpl. Luc Bessette of the RCMP. The Shiprider project raises several questions that demand answers from the Canadian government:
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