MAPPING THE BORDER: MAINE-NEW BRUNSWICK CROSSINGS FROM FORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HALIFAX 000012 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAN, CA/PPT/IA/WHTI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CPAS PTER PGOV PREL PHUM ELTN WHTI CA SUBJECT: MAPPING THE BORDER: MAINE-NEW BRUNSWICK CROSSINGS FROM FORT KENT-CLAIR TO HOULTON-WOODSTOCK REF: (A) TORONTO 93; (B) 06 OTTAWA 3205; (C) 05 HALIFAX 158 HALIFAX 00000012 001.2 OF 003 -------------- SUMMARY: -------------- ¶1. Uncertainty over the exact requirements and precise entry-into-force date of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) land and sea rule are the main concerns of nearly everyone we met during a recent visit to border communities and border crossing points in northwestern New Brunswick. The questions most asked by the people we met were: (1) When will the passport requirement for entering the U.S. over the land border actually enter into force; and, (2) What other documents besides the passport can travelers use to enter the country? Local officials and citizens in Edmundston and Woodstock were pleased to hear that the proposed land and sea rule would include language exempting children 15 and under from the passport requirement. Community leaders also suggested an exemption for the elderly. We heard at length about arrangements between U.S. and Canadian municipalities to provide emergency services (including medical, fire, and infrastructure recovery) to each other in times of need. The communities hope that the new land rule will permit these vital cross-border arrangements to continue. END SUMMARY. ¶2. From February 26 - March 1, Consul General traveled to northwestern New Brunswick as part of Mission Canada's efforts to raise awareness of the WHTI among communities along the border and to gather information for the Mission-wide "Mapping the Border" reporting exercise. CG participated in two productive WHTI roundtable discussions hosted by the mayors of Edmundston and Woodstock, NB. And, with excellent collaboration and cooperation from the regional office of the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and their U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) counterparts, CG visited eight of the nineteen border crossing points along the Maine-New Brunswick border. The eight were: Clair, NB - Fort Kent, ME Edmundston, NB - Madawaska, ME Saint Leonard, NB - Van Buren, ME Grand Falls, NB - Hamlin, ME Gillespie, NB - Limestone, ME Perth Andover, NB - Fort Fairfield, ME Centreville, NB - Bridgewater, ME Woodstock, NB - Houlton, ME We plan to visit the remaining crossing points in the weeks ahead. -------------- ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS... -------------- ¶3. The roundtable discussions in Edmundston and Woodstock included a broad cross-section of their respective communities. In addition to the mayors of both towns, other participants included city managers, fire chiefs, police chiefs, emergency management specialists, health authorities, and local business leaders. The town manager of Madawaska, ME, and a former Maine State Senator from the region also participated in the Edmundston meeting. Officials from Houlton, ME, were invited to participate in the Woodstock meeting but were unable to attend. -------------- ...FOCUS ON PASSPORTS... -------------- ¶4. The roundtable format was the same in both locations. The CG began by briefing the participants on the genesis of the WHTI, highlighting the smooth implementation of the WHTI air rule, describing the current status of the WHTI land/sea rule, and making the pitch for everyone to prepare for the land rule by getting their passports or NEXUS cards as soon as possible. The mayors then opened the floor to questions and comments. The main recurring themes throughout the discussions were the uncertainties surrounding the entry into force of the land rule and the types of documents in addition to passports that would or would not be accepted at the border. The former Maine State Senator was happy to hear about the proposed passport card as an affordable alternative to the passport. While she and everyone else was encouraged by Secretary Chertoff's announcement that the upcoming proposed land rule would exempt children aged 15 and under from the passport requirement, many also suggested that the U.S. exempt the elderly from the rule. Given the deep and pervasive family ties that span the border, exempting the elderly, they argued, would help ensure that the aging population of the region continued to be able to attend funerals HALIFAX 00000012 002.2 OF 003 of friends and relations on either side of the border. "Folks who are over 70 years of age are reluctant to invest in a passport," said one town councilor. -------------- ...AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT -------------- ¶5. Cross border emergency management was also an important theme of the discussions, especially considering the need to ensure that any new documentation requirement does not hinder either side's ability to come to the aid of the other. Maine and New Brunswick signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Intergovernmental and Cross Border Cooperation on May 8, 2004. That MOU includes a section reaffirming their commitment to supporting the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers' International Emergency Management Assistance Memorandum of Understanding from August 2002. Maine and New Brunswick also have a separate Letter of Understanding on Civil Emergency Planning and Cooperative Emergency Arrangements dating back to September 1975, which provides a formal framework for emergency management cooperation between the state and the province. ¶6. All along the border we saw and heard about examples of how the communities have developed arrangements to support each other in times of crisis. For example, the town of Madawaska relies on the Edmundston fire department's aerial ladder truck for dealing with large structure fires. Both Saint Leonard, NB, and Van Buren, ME, rely on volunteer firefighters to protect the lives and property of their citizens. Whenever there is a structural fire in one community, firefighters from the other community also respond. The current procedure for expediting the crossing of emergency vehicles entails calling ahead to the border to advise the relevant border authorities that the vehicles are en route. Assuming the border crossing is clear when the vehicle arrives, it is allowed to pass unimpeded. ¶7. A similar situation prevails for health care emergencies. Whereas the vast majority of healthcare services are delivered to patients in their own country, there are occasions when a heart attack victim or other acute medical emergency case needs to be taken across the border to the nearest hospital. For Americans living in Madawska, ME the nearest hospital is in Edmundston, NB. For the inhabitants of Clair, NB, the nearest hospital is in Fort Kent, ME. Fortunately, the communities have developed procedures with CBP and CBSA to facilitate emergency cases transiting the border. ¶8. In addition to fire and acute health emergencies, border communities have worked together to prepare for other crises such as major disruptions to water, sewage, and power distribution systems, and large-scale industrial accidents. Health officials in Edmundston described how they were working with counterparts in Madawaska to prepare for an eventual influenza pandemic. CBSA officers at Grand Falls, NB, showed us maps detailing cross-border evacuation routes for people should the ammonia tanks at the McCain food processing plant near the border rupture, discharging toxic fumes into the valley. -------------- THE VIEW FROM THE BORDER -------------- ¶9. Not surprisingly, discussions with CBP and CBSA officers at the various border crossing revealed support for the impending passport requirement; but, they also expressed frustration with the uncertainty and confusion surrounding the when and what of the WHTI land/sea rule. CBP officers said they are asked every day about passports and when the rule will enter into force. Each of the border crossings had passport applications prominently displayed on their counters for people to take. ¶10. However, the number one complaint that CBP officers are hearing right now is the wait time at the border resulting from the 100% ID check that CBP officers conduct. Since most people are still traveling without machine readable documents, the officers must type in the information on each traveler, which is both time consuming and error prone. Wider use of machine readable documents (e.g., passports) would help speed up CBP processing times and reduce errors. ¶11. Except for the large commercial crossing point at Woodstock-Houlton (linking the Trans-Canada Hwy and I-95) implementing other border facilitation programs such as NEXUS or FAST would have marginal payback at most of the crossing points along this part of the border. The two-lane roads at these crossing points would need extensive capital improvements in order to add the extra lanes that make these systems work. HALIFAX 00000012 003.2 OF 003 Furthermore, the relatively low level of traffic through these crossings does not warrant such investments at this time. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶12. Echoing the sentiments expressed by the travel and tourism industry representative at their recent meeting in Niagara Falls (ref A),the folks living along the Maine-New Brunswick border voiced their frustrations at the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the incipient WHTI land and sea rule. This uncertainty continues to spawn confusion and misapprehension on both sides of the border. For our part, we continue to urge people to get their passports now regardless of the uncertainty of the start-date for the land rule. Still, after visiting these communities along this stretch of the border--where the people feel a closer attachment to each other through family and social ties than they do to either Washington or Ottawa, and where driving across to the other side to visit family or to buy milk and gas or to take in a movie used to be a matter of simply hopping in the car and driving--it is easy to see why they are reluctant to embrace the new reality of this post-9/11 world. END COMMENT. FOSTER