SUCCESSFUL VISIT TO CANADA BY DHS SECRETARY NAPOLITANO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 OTTAWA 000434 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DHS FOR OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PBTS PREL PGOV ETRD ECON PTER CA SUBJECT: SUCCESSFUL VISIT TO CANADA BY DHS SECRETARY NAPOLITANO ¶1. (SBU) Summary. DHS Secretary Napolitano held productive meetings in Ottawa on May 27 with PM Harper, National Security Advisor Morin, Public Safety Minister Van Loan, and Citizenship Minister Kenney, at which Canadian officials pledged cooperation on border issues, especially in facing threats from terrorism and crime, which affect both our countries. She heard concerns from business leaders that U.S. border measures were hindering trade. She signed the landmark "Shiprider" agreement -- integrated maritime law enforcement operations -- during a stop to the Detroit/Windsor border on May 26, and announced an agreement on a framework for the movement of people and goods across the U.S. Canada border during and following an emergency. Secretary Napolitano and Minister Van Loan agreed to meet at least twice a year in the future. End Summary. The Prime Minister -------------- ¶2. (SBU) During a May 27 visit to Ottawa, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano met with a range of high level Canadian officials, accompanied by Charge d'Affaires Breese. The meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper focused on the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI),Canadian concerns about U.S. security measures at the border, and land preclearance. PM Harper reiterated his statement from the joint press conference with President Obama on February 19 that threats to the United States and Canada are shared. However, he expressed concern about U.S. statements regarding "parity" between the Mexican and Canadian borders. He highlighted Canadian perceptions that the borders are significantly different and insisted that they should not be treated the same. The Prime Minister stated his overall security concerns were similar to those of the United States, but underlined particular concern about any emerging nexus between organized crime and terrorism. National Security Advisor -------------- ¶3. (SBU) In a separate meeting, National Security Advisor Marie-Lucie Morin emphasized that the interagency group of Deputy Ministers she leads is focusing on borders and all modes of entry into Canada, not just the land border. She pointed out that Canada's air and sea border security directly impacts the U.S. because of the shared land border. She expressed Canada's interest in undertaking joint threat assessments. She also expressed her belief that intelligence sharing between our countries is "back on track after some unfortunate cases;" CDA Breese commented that the Embassy still sees significant problems. She confirmed that Minister Van Loan has the broad policy lead for information sharing issues on behalf of the Government of Canada, but that those issues also involve Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Justice Canada, Transport Canada, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Ms. Morin pledged that Canada would like to work with the United States on security cooperation with Mexico, and expressed appreciation for the strong U.S.-Canada-Mexico collaboration to address the recent H1N1 virus, underscoring the value of having protocols in place to address similar situations. ¶4. (SBU) Ms. Morin commented that a secure, stable border is important and that, among the serious threats we face, the economic threat is high as well. Ms. Morin said she would lead a delegation of senior officials to Washington in September; Secretary Napolitano offered to have DHS officials (specifically DAS Silver) QNapolitano offered to have DHS officials (specifically DAS Silver) work with her staff and State Department officials on an exchange of letters to set up an agenda for this visit. Ms. Morin asked that DHS and her office work together to establish a set of priority issues for discussion at the August 2009 North American Leaders Summit (NALS). She emphasized that collaboration needs to focus on concrete issues and deliver rapid results. Public Safety Canada -------------- ¶5. (SBU) In a meeting on May 27 following the shared Ambassador Bridge tour, signing of the Shiprider agreement (see para 14),and joint press conference in Detroit the day before, Secretary Napolitano met with Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan in Ottawa. She assured Minister Van Loan of DHS' readiness for the implementation of WHTI. She and Van Loan agreed to advance discussions at the senior officials' level on developing a joint threat assessment, potentially including the private sector in particular on threats to critical infrastructure and consequence management issues. Minister Van Loan strongly urged the reopening of discussions on land preclearance, but Secretary Napolitano cautioned that potential efficiencies were unclear and suggested instead discussion on other outstanding preclearance-related issues, including private aircraft, marine and rail, and cargo. Deputy Minister Suzanne Hurtubise said she had recently completed OTTAWA 00000434 002 OF 003 consultations with other departments and that Canada would be willing to discuss General Aviation/private aircraft preclearance. ¶6. (SBU) Minister Van Loan agreed to look into the issues on an expedited basis raised by CDA Breese, notably the possible provision by Canada of status under the air preclearance agreement to CBP personnel working in Container Security Initiative Ports in Canada and CBP officers conducting preclearance for ferries at Canadian terminals. The Secretary and the Minister agreed to have CBP and CBSA conduct a review of the trusted shipper programs -- C-TPAT (CBP) and PIP (Canada) -- to see if they could be further integrated. Minister Van Loan indicated his preference to pursue with Canadian airlines obtaining "informed consent" from passengers overflying the United States to provide their information to the United States for Secure Flight. The Secretary suggested looking at subsets of data on arriving passengers that we could share. Minister Van Loan discussed collaborating on issues relating to domestic radicalization and suggested Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) should meet with DHS officials to discuss outreach they have done to diverse populations in Canada. The Secretary and the Minister agreed that the two departments should work together on cybersecurity. They agreed to meet again in late October/November 2009 -- and at least twice a year thereafter -- and expressed the hope of seeing substantial advancement of specific elements of the joint agenda at that time. ¶7. (SBU) Following their meeting, the Secretary and the Minister conducted a joint press conference at which they announced agreement on a framework for the movement of people and goods across the border during and following an emergency. They also released a joint border statement, in which they outlined six shared goals that they would work toward during their agree-upon twice-yearly meetings. The goals included developing joint threat and risk assessments, advancing initiatives to manage risk while facilitating the movement of legitimate goods and people, sharing information to prevent people or goods that threaten our safety from entering either country or crossing the border, expanding integrated law enforcement operations along the shared border and waterways, and exploring models for joint or shared border facilities, equipment and technology as well as cross-designation of personnel as appropriate. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) -------------- -------------- ¶8. (SBU) In a separate meeting, Minister for Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney and the Secretary discussed immigration, asylum and refugee programs and processes, and ways to share additional information to prevent criminals and terrorists from entering our immigration or refugee systems. (This was the first time that a DHS Secretary had met with an immigration minister.) Minister Kenney emphasized Canada's desire to look closely at visa screening and security in its immigration program. He discussed challenges in Canada's refugee and asylum system, in particular high numbers of "inland refugee claims" (those made by immigrants who travel to Canada by other means and then claim asylum after arriving),stating that he was "very concerned about abuse in this system." He admitted that 55% of these inland refugee claims are rejected, but because of appeal delays and applications for Qare rejected, but because of appeal delays and applications for humanitarian exceptions, many are not removed for many years. Minister Kenney explained that CIC was preparing a package of reforms to the system to address these delays and increase resources for removals that would be put forward in the fall. ¶9. (SBU) Minister Kenney admitted that Canada was behind the United States and the United Kingdom in its fingerprint program, and said that CIC was looking to accelerate its implementation in Canada ahead of the current 2013 target date. CDA Breese offered to host the Minister at the U.S. Embassy's Consular Section to view the visa and fingerprint process at his convenience. Deputy Minister Fadden raised concerns about the difficulties of sharing information, including biometric information under the current MOUs between the United States and Canada which predate both the creation of CIC and DHS. The Secretary and the Minister agreed to put together an appropriate group of officials to discuss the MOU and the legal and policy impediments to sharing information for immigration and security screening purposes on a more systematic basis, with a goal of updating the MOU. ¶10. (SBU) Minister Kenney expressed interest in the U.S. Enhanced System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) program for Visa Waiver entrants. He admitted that Canada needs to do more in screening visitors from Visa Waiver countries. The Secretary offered to host CIC officials in Washington with the DHS ESTA team to brief them. Minister Kenney also discussed differences in admissibility criteria (in particular on national security issues),stating there have been OTTAWA 00000434 003.2 OF 003 cases where the United States has admitted persons Canada has kept out, and objecting that Canada is somehow "softer on immigration." (Comment: The reference was to British MP George Galloway, who was denied entry to Canada because of his support for Hamas but was admitted to the U.S. for a speaking tour. End Comment) The Secretary and the Minister agreed to have a group of officials meet to develop a matrix to compare and contrast the screening process and admissibility criteria between the U.S. and Canada and report back. ¶11. (SBU) Minister Kenney expressed his strong desire to enhance information sharing between Canada and the United States, and emphasized that his government is ready to explore legislative changes to make greater information sharing possible. CIC has asked that DHS alert CIC when ICE is preparing significantly to ramp-up interior immigration enforcement actions, as U.S. enforcement activities impact Canada's refugee claimant numbers. The Secretary asked in return that CIC alert DHS to any anticipated changes in immigration policies related to Haiti. Minister Kenney asked to meet with the Secretary on an annual basis to further the relationship and ensure coordination and communication on immigration and visa policy issues, which she agreed would be useful. Private Sector -------------- ¶12. (SBU) At a May 26 dinner hosted by Canadian-American Business Council (CABC) Executive Director Maryscott ("Scotty") Greenwood, the Secretary had an opportunity to meet with CABC board members from cross-border Canadian business associations and some Canadian politicians, including Senator Pamela Wallin and Member of Parliament Bev Shipley, as well as former Canadian Ambassador to Washington Michael Kergin. Ambassador Kergin noted his belief that the "future of cooperation is real transparency in our intelligence and security agencies." Janet Lambert, former President of BIOTECanada, noted that improved security can have economic benefits for any sector, and common policies between the countries on security measures would be helpful. She emphasized there does not need to be a trade-off between security and trade. Ron Covais, President for the Americas of Lockheed Martin, recommended that DHS review recommendations made under the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC),a trilateral private sector council of CEOs from Canada, Mexico, and the United States, formed several years ago to advise the leaders of the three countries under the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). He suggested some of these recommendations may be worth considering and that the government should ask the private sector to see how technology can make it happen. ¶13. (SBU) Shirley Ann George of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce recommended a joint set of recommendations that the Canadian and U.S. Chambers of Commerce developed with "practical ideas" for facilitating trade along the border. Others advised that "language matters" when speaking to the Canadian public, and suggested that "sovereign border" was a better phrase from the Canadian perspective than "real border" and that "convergence" was a better term than "harmonization" between U.S. and Canadian policies. Senator Wallin suggested that the current government under PM Harper and in particular Minister Kenney were more open to discussing issues of immigration policy between our two nations than was previously the Qimmigration policy between our two nations than was previously the case. Dave Leach of Greyhound described the difficulties his company has with regular bus service at Buffalo; the Secretary asked for more details to learn whether the issue is occasional or systemic. (DAS Silver and DAS Kraninger subsequently met with Mr. Leach and obtained get additional information for follow up.) Agreements -------------- ¶14. (SBU) The Secretary and Minister Van Loan, in a public event on May 26 at the Detroit/Windsor border crossing, signed the long-awaited "Shiprider" agreement, which will enable integrated maritime law enforcement operations to deal with cross-border crime. They also announced an agreement on a framework for the movement of people and goods across the U.S. Canada border during and following an emergency. ¶15. (U) DHS Attach has cleared this message. BREESE