WASHINGTON — The Canada-U.S. border will once again be under intense scrutiny in the United States as a congressional hearing aims to push for tighter security measures along the much-maligned boundary.
Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, is holding a Senate hearing next week to prod federal officials for details about security initiatives along the border.
Schumer said Tuesday that top officials from the Department of Homeland Security, formed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, will attend the hearing to discuss proposals that include employing military-grade radar along the border to crack down on drug smugglers.
News of Schumer’s hearing before the subcommittee on immigration, refugees and border security came the same day that Canada’s Fraser Institute released a report on U.S. congressional perceptions about Canada.
The study suggests American politicians view Canada as little else but a stable source of energy with a border security problem. There’s also scant appetite for freer Canada-U.S. trade unless it involves cheaper prescription drugs.
According to congressional debates between 2001 and 2010, the report found that discussions about Canada primarily revolved around energy, including Alberta’s oilsands. Most of those debates shone a positive light on America’s neighbour to the north and there was little, if any, resistance to the oilsands.
But legislators were also deeply concerned about Canada having a porous border that was leaving the U.S. vulnerable to terrorists slipping across the boundary to wreak havoc.
There were “persistent and repeated” allegations from lawmakers that Canada is lax on terrorism, including claims that some of the 9-11 hijackers entered the U.S. over the northern border.
The 9-11 myth is a diehard one in the U.S., with Frank McKenna, a former Canadian ambassador to the States, once calling it a “viral infection.”
It’s now become almost a rite of passage for Canada’s envoy to the United States to remind Americans it’s not true; Ambassador Gary Doer had to do it in October, when a Tea Party candidate repeated the myth publicly.
It’s a message that doesn’t seem to have reached many American legislators, the Fraser report suggests.
“When discussing border security, American politicians tend most often to speak of the Canadian and Mexican borders in roughly the same manner,” Moens wrote.
“Their concern about the threat of terrorists staging attacks from Canada remains high.”