US embassy cable - 04OTTAWA3265

UNCLAS E F T O SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 003265 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
JUSTICE FOR BURKE, DHS FOR BOYD, USCG FOR KIESERMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2009 
TAGS: KCRM, PGOV, PREL, PTER, SMIG, SNAR, CA, Irwin Cotler, Border Patrol 
SUBJECT: CANADA: MARITIME COOPERATION 
 
 
1.  summary:  Canada's Minster of Justice, Irwin Cotler, 
informed Ambassador Cellucci on November 22 that the 
Government of Canada would be open to exploratory discussions 
with representatives of the US Government concerning an 
evaluation of need and then possible development of a 
maritime agreement, or shiprider protocol between the US and 
Canada. Cotler thought that the best existing mechanism for 
these talks would be within the Border Enforcement Subgroup 
of the Cross Border Crime Forum thus allowing eventual 
shiprider exercises, if agreed upon, to become operational 
extensions of already on-going and successful Integrated 
Border Enforcement Team (IBET) activities. 
end summary 
 
2.  During a one-on-one meeting in his Parliament Hill office 
on November 22, Canada's Minister of Justice, Irwin Cotler 
told Ambassador Cellucci that he and his Ministry are pleased 
to have become a more active participant in the US-Canada 
Cross Border Crime Forum.  Cotler commented that the Crime 
Forum has over the years proven itself a energetic and 
positive mechanism for the promotion of bi-lateral law 
enforcement cooperation and coordination by identifying 
problems and then developing the solutions to them.  Cotler 
suggested that in his experience, most Canadians have long 
recognized that just as the US homeland cannot be fully 
secure without the help of Canada, neither can Canada be 
truly safe without close cooperation with the United States. 
He noted that this was especially evident in the post-9/11 
era and that Canadian law enforcement officials are sensitive 
to the need to do more with their US counterparts. 
 
3.  As a result, Cotler said that Canada would be open to 
exploratory discussions with representatives of the US 
Government to ascertain if there is a need for an expanded 
law enforcement presence in the Great Lakes, Saint Lawrence 
Seaway and possibly along our Atlantic and Pacific coasts. 
He noted that on the Canadian side such discussions should 
include representatives from Transport Canada, Public Safety 
and Emergency Preparedness (PSEPC), Foreign Affairs Canada 
(FAC), the Ministry of Justice, the Royal Canadian Mounted 
Police (RCMP), The Prime Minister's Office (PMO), and other 
interested stakeholders including the pertinent provincial 
authorities.  The key, Cotler stressed, would be to ensure 
that an agreed to enhanced maritime law enforcement 
commitment would be consistent with Canada's quote 
constitutional framework and law unquote. 
 
4.  As a practical step forward, Cotler said he thought that 
the most appropriate existing mechanism for these talks could 
be within the Border Enforcement Subgroup of the Cross Border 
Crime Forum.  This he suggested might allow eventual 
shiprider exercises, if agreed upon, to become operational 
extensions of already on-going and successful Integrated 
Border Enforcement Team (IBET) activities.  Cotler said he 
would confer with his counterpart and Canadian co-chair of 
the Cross Border Crime Forum, Public Safety and Emergency 
Preparedness Canada, Deputy Prime Minister Ann McLellan as 
well as US Department of Justice Forum organizers about 
tasking the Border Enforcement Subgroup with quote defining 
the problem and then offering solutions unquote. 
 
5.  Minister Cotler's remarks to the Ambassador mirrored a 
Canadian Government position expressed earlier to poloff.  On 
November 19, PSEPC Director General Caroline Melis said that 
DPM McLellan made clear that enhanced US-Canadian border 
security remains a national priority and that PSEPC stands 
ready to begin discussions with US officials with an eye 
towards an eventual maritime, or shiprider protocol.  Melis 
noted that the DPM's Senior Policy Advisor for Border 
Services, David Thelan, had underscored the value of a 
maritime agreement, to be spearheaded by a two week shiprider 
proof of concept exercise on the Great Lakes, but that the 
Ministry of Justice's Senior Legal Advisor as well as the 
RCMP's senior counsel advised that a shiprider exercise as 
described in the proof of concept was inconsistent with 
Canadian law and therefore should not be implemented within 
Canadian waters. (Note: the proof of concept discussed here 
was prepared by DHS and given to the RCMP in June.  Though 
the RCMP's Director General for Border Integrity fully 
endorsed the proposal, it appears to have languished in the 
RCMP's legal office until October.  Only then did the RCMP's 
senior legal advisor pass the proposal to the Ministry of 
Justice for the Government of Canada's official review and 
decision.  Post was advised in mid-October that Canada 
Justice found the proposal quote inconsistent with Canadian 
law unquote.  This appears to be the same fate suffered by a 
similar shiprider proposal given to the Canadian Government 
in the late 1990s.) 
 
6.  Comment:  Many of our Canadian interlocutors agree that a 
shiprider program would greatly enhance both US and Canadian 
law enforcement capabilities in and around our shared lakes, 
waterways and coasts and therefore should be done.  The 
seemingly contradictory hesitancy to conduct a early and 
quick proof of concept however, stems from a Canadian 
insistence that Canadian civil liberties and protections not 
be infringed upon by foreign officers of the law -- 
especially if armed.  As Miles was quick to point out the 
last thing we (Canadians) want is quote for another 31 
year-old mother of three to be killed by a US cop engaged in 
a high speed chase on Canadian streets -- with or without 
permission unquote.  This leads to the conclusion that the 
devil remains in the details and as we've been told an 
eventual joint maritime exercise and hoped for protocol will 
require interagency consensus among all stakeholders within 
the Canadian Government. Therefore, Cotler's suggestion to 
task the Border Enforcement Subgroup of the Cross Border 
Crime Forum may be the best place to start. 
 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
FLORA