Postcards From a Pandemic, Part Two: The Case for Borders

It’s been quite a week, thanks to the Great Plague of 2020.

Today marked another milestone reversal, in a week of shocking turnarounds. Canada is finally locking down its borders, in the face of COVID-19. It’s not a total closure, per se. But it’s as close as anyone can remember since 9/11. Entry to Canada will be barred for all non-citizens and non-residents of the US and Canada. Foreign flights will be restricted to just four airports, and non-essential air travel is prohibited.

I say it’s a shocking turnaround, because last week the Federal Government was proclaiming open borders were the answer, “enhanced screening” consisting of asking people if they’d been to three hotspots was working fine, and asking for anything stricter was basically fascist.

Something funny happened on the weekend, though. The Provinces pre-empted Ottawa. Provincial health authorities started directing their residents to self-isolate for 14 days after returning from abroad. Fearful of having the doors slammed in their faces, with the US flight ban indicating trouble ahead, Canadians herded back home. The weekend news shows were full of scenes of Canadians exiting crowded airports with nothing but a handful of hand sanitizer, and a pamphlet on what to do if they got sick. The ineffectual ministers sent out to explain all this stammered and stuttered. And the first CBSA officer tested positive, at Pearson Airport in Toronto.

The optics went sour, quickly, for a government obsessed with optics. Justin Trudeau’s government was seen to be dithering, and it was time for at least the appearance of decisive action.

As a former Border Services Officer, allow me to point out what this all underscores: The importance of borders.

One of the reasons things have gotten so out of control in Europe is the absence of border controls. The EU abolished them, and now I am guessing a great many of its inhabitants wish they hadn’t. How do you restrict access and turn away the sick if there’s nothing but a pillar by the side of the road? You don’t, is how. The only alternative becomes locking everyone in their homes. A little more restrictive than showing a passport and answering some questions, isn’t it? But here we are. Italy and Spain are now massive penitentiaries. France is probably next.

For so many years now, border controls have come to symbolize nationalism, xenophobia, and small-mindedness. Their very real purpose has been forgotten. That is to regulate and control movement across borders for the betterment of all.

Here’s something I often noticed at the Canada/US border: Truly vile and dangerous people generally avoided borders. They knew we had tremendous power to stop and search them, and that meant they’d probably be going to jail if they showed up in front of us. When they did, almost always by mistake, they panicked. The mere presence of a border with mean-faced officers packing heat acted as a natural filter for predators.

Regulated travel for the betterment of all. Hard to achieve with a pillar and a sign, no?

The same goes for public health. Educated and trained officers, with the right equipment, authorities, and protection, can screen travelers and slow the spread of infection. Pillars, and for that matter, computerized kiosks, can’t and won’t.

The problem in Canada is not that we’ve eliminated our border controls; it’s that we’ve neutered them. Since the NEXUS program was implemented in the aftermath of 9/11, both the US and Canada have dedicated a tremendous amount of energy to “streamlining” border processes. That means, in practice, encouraging rapid processing, and superficial questioning and examination. The budgetary lure of automation and staff cuts has led to remote control ports and kiosks conducting primary screening.

Of course, this is all supposed to backed up by officers ready to ramp up scrutiny if needed, such as in a global pandemic. But that’s not what has happened, unfortunately. Giant organizations are slow to change gears, especially when their political leadership is furtive and indecisive. Officers are few in number, and lacking in specialized training and equipment.

But the biggest problem is a problem of habit. Since the implementation of NEXUS, an entire generation of CBSA officers has been educated to ask fewer questions, not more. Spend less time on travelers, so as not to delay them. Be less curious, and rely more on machines.

In short, precisely the opposite of the way I was trained. The few remaining veteran officers on the front line may adjust quite well to the new reality. But some of the younger crew could have a hard time transitioning from three questions and a quick glance to really looking and asking tough questions. These skills cannot be created from scratch, overnight, especially when the culture has discouraged them for so long.

People: take it from me. Borders are not the tools of xenophobes and racists. Borders are a necessary mechanism of a sovereign state. And by the time you realize you need them, it may already be too late.

Canada just remembered why it needed borders. Unfortunately, it’s probably too late.