SPEAKING NOTES WILLIAM BAKER - CITY OF WINDSOR A MUNICIPAL PERSPECTIVE

Transcription

1 SPEAKING NOTES WILLIAM BAKER - CITY OF WINDSOR A MUNICIPAL PERSPECTIVE 1. Bring greetings from Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis and regrets for not being able to attend. 2. Set the stage outlining that this presentation regarding Land-Border Protection & Enforcement in Canada will be from a Municipal perspective. 3. The Border is a system comprised of: Infrastructure Border Processing Technology Staffing When anyone of these elements are neglected then the entire system suffers. 4. Land Border Protection and Enforcement has regional and global ramifications for this continents economy: Security = Trade Trade = Security 5. It is interesting to note under the Police Services Act, the responsibilities of a municipality are: Adequate and effective police services to include, at a minimum, all of the following police services: 1. Crime prevention. 2. Law enforcement. 3. Assistance to victims of crime. 4. Public order maintenance. 5. Emergency response. BUT DOES NOT INCLUDE BORDER SECURITY OR ENFORCEMENT! MUNICIPLE GOVERNMENT 6. ENFORCEMENT From a municipal point of view, local enforcement and first responders (Police and Emergency Response) are not in affect charged with securing the borders. The responsibility for border security lies directly with the RCMP through the Integrated Border Enforcement Team (IBET). Although IBET has been mandated as a multi-agency law enforcement team that emphasizes a harmonized approach to Canadian and United States efforts to target cross-border criminal

2 activity, their role has been one of Intelligence vis-à-vis enforcement according to Windsor Police Services. Therefore the City of Windsor has been entirely on the hook financially in responding to critical incidence relative to human smuggling, organized crime with potential terrorist cells and the increase bio-hazardous threats after 9-11 of which Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario (CISO) provides intelligence assistance but no funding for response. According to information from Chief Stannard of Windsor Police Services, after the increased anthrax threats locally after 9-11, the province of Ontario provided $1 million in funding to the O.P.P. to respond and combat bio-hazardous and other threat primarily for the big 5 municipalities along the 401. It was ironic the big 5 cities have their own municipal police services and no money flowed to those agencies. The only compensation Windsor Police Services received from this provincial funding to the O.P.P. was through the acquisition of a few Hazmat suites for the force. The costs associated with the affect US Customs and national security has had on border traffic congestion in the municipality of Windsor for Police personnel and vehicle costs alone has been tracked at more than $507,000 in 2003 and the first 3 quarters of There are no mechanisms to recover these costs from the Provincial or Federal governments. 7. EMERGENCY SERVICES FIRST RESPONDERS From an emergency services point of view (Fire & Rescue) there has been an unofficial working relationship with Detroit Fire & Rescue for first response border emergency critical incidences. Officially, local Fire & Rescue do not have the authority from the Federal government of Canada to allow municipalities to respond to border incidents between other countries. According to Dave Fields there has been some shared funding for equipment through the Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear (CBRN) First Responder Program, through the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). This was an amount of $100,000 shared between Ottawa, Toronto and Windsor. CBRN suggests bringing together response partners usually require complex, lengthy, multi-disciplinary and multi-jurisdictional responses, it is important for all police and emergency services to work together, sharing their resources and expertise. However, funding to local municipalities is not directly available for these initiative. As a matter of fact both Dave Fields and Glenn Stannard are attending the International Joint Commission of First Responders and Incident Command in Toronto, November 17, 2004 which has been funded through the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) a Department of Homeland Security. FEMA is the first responder agency that prepares the nation for all hazards and

3 manages federal response and recovery to hurricanes, earthquakes, a tornado, a flood, a fire or a hazardous spill, or an act of terrorism. PROVINCE OF ONTARIO 8. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ONTARIO Emergency Management Ontario (EMO) is responsible for the development and implementation of emergency management programs throughout Ontario. Comprehensive programs include mitigation/prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. EMO carries out its mandate through a number of activities: helping provincial and community officials develop and implement emergency management programs; Providing training for emergency management staff; Responding to actual emergencies by providing advice and assistance to community officials, and coordinating the provincial and federal response; and Providing public education products. ISSUES COMMUNITY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATORS Emergency Management Ontario hosted a meeting on August 25, 2004 for border communities and their American counterparts to discuss the state of emergency management with municipalities along the Canada-US border and to address issues of common interest in areas of mutual aid and assistance. The following were the main issues as a result of the meeting: (See Tab entitled; Ontario Border Communities Updates & Issues including Agenda and Attendees) 1. Telecommunications Different emergency responder frequencies and bands make transmission of emergency information difficult. 2. Interoperability It is necessary to develop common doctrine, training methods and a similar Incident Management System to ensure that all public safety personnel can effectively integrate emergency response. 3. Notification Communities would like to see notification of incidents come to them directly from the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre, Emergency Management Ontario. 4. Financial Funding is needed to resolve international border issues. Funding is needed for the purchase of new equipment and telecommunications hardware, the

4 hiring of additional staff, joint training opportunities and cross-border exercises. 5. Legal/Constitutional A review and update of the federal Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Canada on Cooperation in Comprehensive Civil Emergency Planning and Management, 1986 is required. (See Tab entitled; 1986 US Canada Treaty Civil Emergency Planning & Management Article II(j) 6. Mutual Aid and Assistance Agreements Municipalities would like a framework template to be developed by the province for mutual aid and assistance agreements to ensure consistency of layout, information, and authorities. Conclusion: It is vital that the Province of Ontario, its municipalities and its US counterparts have the legal authority, necessary resources and equipment, and common training and knowledge to ensure the continued economic, social, political, and cultural stability of both nations before, during and after emergencies. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 9. PUBLIC SAFETY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS CANADA On the House of Commons introduced legislation to establish the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC) combines the core activities of the previous Department of the Solicitor General, the Office of Critical Infrastructure and Emergency Preparedness, and the National Crime Prevention Centre. The new Department is part of the portfolio of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness that includes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Correctional Service of Canada, the National Parole Board, the Canada Firearms Centre, the Canada Border Services Agency, and three review bodies. CANADA / U.S INTEGRATED BORDER ENFORCEMENT TEAMS The Integrated Border Enforcement Team (IBET) is a multi-agency law enforcement team that emphasizes a harmonized approach to Canadian and United States efforts to target cross-border criminal activity. IBET enable U.S. and Canadian police services and law enforcement communities to work together daily with local, state and provincial enforcement

5 agencies. Both countries share a common border and common objectives: to ensure that the border is open for business, but closed to crime 10. JOINT EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM (JEPP) The Joint Emergency Preparedness Program (JEPP) was conceived to encourage and support co-operation among the federal and provincial/territorial governments in working toward a national capability to meet emergencies of all types with a reasonably uniform standard of emergency response. The Joint Emergency Preparedness Program (JEPP) was established in October 1980 to enhance the national capability to manage all types of emergencies and ensure a reasonably uniform emergency response and recovery capacity across Canada. JEPP is administered by Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC). Let s look at a comparison of funding Can/US. Since the inception of JEPP, in October 1980 the Government of Canada has committed $115 million to the provinces and territories. Prior to the December 2001 Budget, approximately $4.7 million was made available annually for emergency preparedness projects from coast to coast. Michigan alone was awarded $73.1 million dollars in 2004 to 104 local communities for homeland security efforts. The monies are made available under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) FY 2004 Homeland Security Grant Program. Under the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) the City of Detroit and Wayne County alone will be provide $23,491,484 from the combined 2004 and 2003 grants. The program provides financial assistance to address the unique planning, equipment, training, and exercise needs of large urban areas, and to assist them in building an enhanced and sustainable capacity to prevent, respond to, and recover from threats or acts of terrorism. Funding of our Land-Border Protection and Enforcement in Canada from both levels of Government needs serious attention especially from a municipal affect on cost and response. 11. Trade = Security Thank you for this opportunity to discuss the Canada-U.S. border from the Windsor-Detroit perspective. (Figures and comments provided by George Costaris Senior Manager, Political Economic and Public Affairs, Canadian Consulate General Detroit) Here are some general Canada U.S. trade statistics Canada sends 85% of all its exports to the United States

6 We cover 4 states from the Canadian Consulate in Detroit- Mi/Oh/In/Ky Those four states are equivalent to Canada s trade with every other country n the world combined Canada exports more to Kentucky than to China However, it is less well known that the U. S. sends 25% of its exports to Canada U. S. exports to Ontario are almost twice the U. S. exports to Japan About 33% of trade is automotive GM is largest importer in U. S. (88% from Canada) 37 states have Canada as their export destination Our 2-way trade is now approaching $1.3 billion every day All this has an enormous impact on the border a border that is miles (8840km) 7,000 miles with Alaska (11200km) 3 times as long as the U. S. Mexico border water accounts for 33% of the border Consider what is involved every day: 90% of transborder movement takes place at 20 land crossings One truck crosses our shared border every 2.5 seconds representing 45,000 trucks each and every day of the year 58% of those trucks cross at 5 key border crossings What have our governments been doing to better coordinate border management: In 1996, Canada and the U. S. implemented a comprehensive Shared Border Accord This was followed in 1999 with the CUSP process However, the tragic events of 9/11 greatly accelerated those efforts leading to the Smart Border Declaration and 32-Point Action Plan We are aggressively building a smart border open for business but closed to terrorists Let s narrow the focus to the Windsor-Detroit Gateway: More trade crosses Windsor-Detroit than anywhere else in North America 20 million cars and trucks annually Traffic has doubled in last 10 years with 9,500 trucks crossing daily 40% of all trucks that enter Canada from the U. S. cross over the Ambassador Bridge more trade crosses the Ambassador Bridge than all U. S. exports to Mexico and twice as much as U. S. exports to Japan 25% of Canada s $1.3 billion daily trade with the U. S. crosses over the Ambassador Bridge

7 As I explained earlier, the border is a system comprised of infrastructure, border processing, technology and staffing. If any one of those elements is neglected, then the entire system suffers. I would like to highlight some of the recent improvements to those 4 elements at the Windsor-Detroit Gateway. Infrastructure On September 11, 2001, there were only 6 Customs lanes for trucks going into the U. S. They were increased to 9 lanes one year later. This June there were an additional 4 Customs booths installed at primary bring the total to 13. This has greatly improved traffic flow. The math is simple. The border at the Ambassador Bridge appears to work when 300 trucks are processed every hour. Each truck takes about 2 minutes to process. Therefore, at 9 lanes you have 30 trucks processed every hour multiplied by 9 for a total of 270 trucks about 30 trucks short of the goal. With 13 lanes, US CBP can now process up to 390 trucks per hour better guaranteeing security and trade efficiency. Staffing U. S. CBP has increased staffing by at least 300% since 9/11 Processing FAST and NEXUS In Canada there are 20,000 FAST drivers, 270 carriers and 12 importers. About 25% of trucks on the Ambassador Bridge are FAST Technology VACIS, Radiation detectors, Proximity cards, and Transponders Let me conclude by briefly looking at some short and medium term efforts underway in this region to improve border congestion? As you know, there is a Binational Process underway to determine new border crossing options. Optimistically, this process will not likely conclude with a new crossing until at least September 25, 2002: Federal and Provincial governments committed $300 million for the Ontario approaches to the Windsor crossings. Plans were announced in December 2002 and in May 2003 which met with significant resistance from the City of Windsor March 11, 2004: An MOU was signed between the Federal/Provincial governments and the City of Windsor to short and medium term congestion without biasing the Binational Process. The City has hired Sam Schwartz ( Gridlock Sam ) to produce a plan which should be released in the near future. On the U. S. side, MDOT and U. S. Federal Highway Administration are working towards completion to the Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project to provide better access to the freeway system in the U. S.