A report of the internal government warned a year ago that allowing “the tendency of negative rhetoric” on the security of the Canada-Us could cause thickening of the 49th parallel, negatively affecting trade and travel.
The report, written by a diplomat at the Canada Embassy in Washington, said that the fact of not refuting American claims on a “northern border crisis” would lead to the erosion of the image of Canada as than a safe neighbor.
The publication of the February 2024 analysis through the Access to Information Act comes as the Trump White House threatens Canada to radical prices, citing concerns about the flow in the south of migrants and illicit drugs like fentanyl.
These threats prompted Canada to announce a $ 1.3 billion plan in December to improve border security and surveillance and deploy new drones and helicopters. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expanded this $ 200 million earlier this month to target organized crime.
The report, prepared in the context of the American presidential race, reported the first rumble in the United States on the irregular migration and the fentanyl of Canada and concluded that the facts were largely distorted.
He noted that last year, the members of the Congress – mainly Republicans – publicly mentioned the North border some 1,000 times, mainly in a negative light.
The report was distributed to various federal officials, including Kirsten Hillman, Canada Ambassador to the United States.
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Parties of the document were selected from the release under the provisions of the access law exempting from the material linked to international relations, the councils of civil servants and the accounts of the deliberations of the government.
The report classifies the arc of political declarations in the United States, promises of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign to build a wall along the border with Mexico to the calls of the 2024 campaign candidates for the walls southern and north borders.
The right-wing American legislators began to speak of a border crisis in the North after the mid-term elections in November 2022, noted the report.
The House Republicans trained the Northern border security caucus and used their committees control to hold a March 2023 hearing on “death, drugs and northern border disorders”.
“Rhetoric on a crisis on the northern border does not reflect the reality of the situation, which is characterized by good cooperation at all levels,” said the report.
“There is a certain truth behind what is said, but it is generally withdrawn from its context and sensational.”
The report acknowledged that customs and the protection of American borders have reported a substantial increase in apprehensions and meetings in 2022 along the northern border section which includes parts of Vermont, New York and New Hampshire, by compared to the same period in 2021.
But he pointed out that these level passages represented a low percentage of the overall number of irregular entries in the United States, and that the increase does not take into account the fact that cross-border trips were largely interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report pointed out that fentanyl intercepted from Canada represented much less than one percent of the total amount of synthetic opioids captured in addition to the United States, fentanyl entered Canada from the United States
“The truth is that the Canadian-American border works extremely well,” said the report.
Public Safety Canada, Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP work hand in hand with their American counterparts to ensure that the border is managed safely, he added.
“When people or drugs are encountered on the border, it is a sign that things work as they should,” said the report.
Despite this pink evaluation, the report highlighted the possible implications of American concerns.
He noted that the Democratic Senators of New Hampshire had asked that something be done on the increase in irregular passages on the northern border.
While the construction of a northern border wall was “far from being likely”, increased rhetoric could dissuade American legislators from promulgating policies that promote the cross -border movement, according to the report.
“Worse, it could actually push them to thicken the border, as in the early 2000s after September 11.”
Canada should not hesitate to explain that the Canadian-American border is one of the safest and most managed in the world, according to the report.
“Canadian officials should do so on every occasion, at all levels and with a variety of interlocutors – from legislators to commentators in border communities – to protect trusted companies and border travelers.”
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press