Both Canada and the US have devoted considerable resources to develop and strengthen the transportation and trade security programs that make our supply-chains, seaports, airports, and border crossings among the most secure and efficient in the world. Building on such key milestones as the Shared Border Accord, this cooperative relationship was most recently enhanced with the December 7, 2011 release of the Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness Action Plan by President Obama and Prime Minister Harper, the latest example of the shared commitment to prosperity and security. Presently, all containerized marine cargo arriving in Canada, regardless of its ultimate destination, is reported to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) prior to being loaded at a foreign port. The CBSA risk assesses 100% of all marine containers in order to identify potentially high risk shipments. In addition to these risk assessments, all containers also transit radiation portals immediately after unloading from vessels. Container Examination Facilities are also used for more intensive secondary examinations of high risk shipments.
Risk-based, automated targeting against carrier and cargo information transmitted 24 hours prior to loading at a foreign port is conducted to detect high-risk shipments. CBSA officers receive Advanced Commercial Information (ACI) (e.g., electronic pre-arrival and pre-load information) that provides the right information at the right time to identify possible security threats before the goods arrive in Canada. Mandatory electronic transmission of primary and secondary cargo and conveyance information from marine carriers has been in place since April 2004.
From a rail perspective, 100% of all rail-borne maritime shipping containers that enter the US from Canada undergo scanning through a Vehicles and Cargo Inspection System (VACIS) at the land border point of entry, a process that provides customs officers with a radiographic image of the interior of each container/railcar. It is this combination of off-shore screening, rigorous scanning, and regular detailed examinations of high-risk containers that provides a thorough and efficient container security apparatus for the integrated North American marketplace.
The successful history of Canada-US security cooperation provides the foundation for the forward looking collaboration charted out in the Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness Action Plan, which includes several initiatives designed to enhance security and accelerate the legitimate flow of people, goods, and services. For example, the Plan calls for the development of, “ … a harmonized approach to screening inbound cargo arriving from offshore that will result in increased security and the expedited movement of secure cargo across the Canada-United States border, under the principle of cleared once, accepted twice.”24
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24 See: http://www.borderactionplan-plandactionfrontalier.gc.ca/psec-scep/bap_report-paf_rapport-dec2011.aspx?view=d