US embassy cable - 05OTTAWA2446

UNCLAS E F T O SECTION 01 OF 05 OTTAWA 002446 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT OF STATE FOR INL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM, KJUS, PTER, SNAR, CA 
SUBJECT: U.S.-CANADIAN COOPERATION IN STOPPING GUN 
SMUGGLING -- WHAT MORE CAN WE DO? 
 
1. (SBU/NF) Summary: A spate of gang-related killings in 
Toronto has left Ontario Premier McGuinty and Toronto Mayor 
David Miller under pressure to act.  McGuinty shifted the 
focus from the internal problems with gangs in Toronto to the 
notion that many of the guns used in the killings originated 
in the United States, raising this to a broader national 
profile.  At their August 11 meeting in Banff, the Ambassador 
reviewed with McGuinty what we are currently doing on the 
issue of gun trafficking, discussed U.S. proposals that 
require Canadian assistance to implement, and offered to hold 
further discussions of what we can do in the future.  Embassy 
law enforcement team, in coordination with ConGen Toronto, 
has developed several ideas that can be coordinated with 
Canadian law enforcement to help stem the flow of guns.  All 
of our law enforcement experts agree, however, that as long 
as small guns can be concealed in glove boxes or suitcases 
and simply driven across the border, we will only succeed in 
stopping the 
 flow of guns on the margins.  End Summary. 
 
KILLINGS BECOME POLITICAL ISSUE 
------------------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU/NF) Both the number and the type of killings has 
gotten the attention of Toronto's citizens and political 
leaders.  Two men were gunned to death in Toronto last week, 
bringing to 42 the homicide count for the year (Note: this is 
not statistically higher than 2003).  The past two weeks were 
particularly deadly -- with five killed and 11 injured in 14 
separate shootings in Toronto.  One of these sent a four-year 
old boy to the hospital with four bullet wounds, another 
scattered a crowd in a downtown square, a third killed a man 
at random during a birthday party, and a fourth killed two 
Somali immigrants as they exited a night club. 
 
3. (U) Ontario politicians have been criticized for not doing 
enough to stop the killings and in turn they have tried to 
move attention south.  In addition to extensive coverage in 
most dailies throughout the week, MacLean's cover story this 
week is "American Guns, Canadian Violence, Inside a Deadly 
Gun-Running Epidemic."  Toronto Mayor David Miller called the 
Prime Minister's Office August 8 to request help stemming the 
flow of guns from the U.S.  Miller reportedly told federal 
officials that half the guns used to commit crimes in Toronto 
come from the U.S., a figure that has been shared with us by 
other Canadian law enforcement officials, although the source 
is not clear.  Miller has also conceded that clearing up the 
availability of guns is not an easy task, given the ease of 
crossing the border with a handgun and the various ways guns 
come to Canada, such as Canadians returning from vacation. 
 
4. (SBU/NF) Senator Colin Kenney, Chair of the Senate 
Committee on National Defense and Security, penned an op-ed 
for the Globe and Mail in which he states that "roughly half 
the guns used in Canada's street crimes are smuggled over the 
border.  That's where we must draw the line."  He then 
outlined a number of practical measures that Canada could 
implement to better stop guns from crossing the border. 
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory, typically 
a law and order politician, focused on the social and 
economic conditions that produce gang violence, and made 
several high profile visits to the neighborhoods where the 
shootings occurred.  (Note: Political Analyst Bruce Campbell 
told Poloff that the killings are largely confined to 
Jamaican gangs, and they are somewhat seasonal.  He does not 
expect the pace of killings to continue.  End Note) 
 
AMERICAN GUNS FUELING THE VIOLENCE 
---------------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU/NF) Premier McGuinty spoke out on the issue of cross 
border gun flow on August 9 from Banff, saying he had been 
informed by Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair that fully half 
the guns on Toronto's streets come from the U.S, and that he 
would press the Ambassador on the issue when they met the 
next day.  McGuinty used the same tactic that works so well 
with the PM, whom he often publicly chastises for not doing 
enough for the province, thus setting himself up to wrest 
concessions when they meet.  He said "I'm hopeful that this 
time round he'll be more receptive to expressing, first of 
all, some sensitivity to the issue and a desire to help and, 
more than that, an eagerness to lobby Washington to 
participate in joint activities to help us restrict the 
number of American guns that are ending up in Canadian 
streets."  In fact the issue of guns did not come up in the 
Ambassador's first meeting with McGuinty. 
 
6. (SBU/NF) Ambassador Wilkins met McGuinty in Banff on 
August 11 on the margins of the Council of Federations summit 
of premiers.  The Ambassador took the opportunity to correct 
McGuinty on some of his press statements regarding his 
interest in discussing the issue, and suggested that if 
McGuinty continued to publicly blame the U.S. for the 
problem, he would have to say that the real issue is Canadian 
citizens who are breaking U.S. laws by buying guns illegally 
there and then breaking Canadian laws by bringing them back 
to Canada.  He then reviewed all we are doing to work with 
both provincial and national Canadian authorities on the 
problem, and stressed the need to finalize an MOU with the 
RCMP on electronic tracing and access to our ballistic 
identification system, both pending GOC approval.  McGuinty 
said he was surprised to hear how much was already taking 
place, and would in the future couch the issue in terms of 
shared responsibility, rather than shifting all the blame to 
the U.S.  (Septel will cover 
Ambassador's meeting with Toronto Law Enforcement officials 
on July 27). 
 
7. (SBU/NF) The meeting was extremely fruitful in reducing 
the rhetoric surrounding the issue.  In meeting with press 
later in the day, McGuinty said he was impressed by the 
Ambassador's knowledge of the issue and his "sensitivity 
about our desire to establish and maintain a different kind 
of gun culture than they have south of the border."  Mcguinty 
talked several times of the "shared responsibility" for 
managing the problem.  He went on to frame the issue in terms 
of the extremes of getting the U.S. Congress to ban handguns 
south of the border and searching each and every vehicle 
coming across the border, both unrealistic.  Instead, 
McGuinty said, "we have to find a way to share more 
intelligence, to beef up our human resources at the border in 
order to ensure that we are being more effective, more 
proactive when it comes to capturing smuggled guns at the 
border." 
 
U.S. ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM 
---------------------------- 
 
8. (SBU/NF) According to U.S. statistics, in calendar year 
2004 Canadian law enforcement submitted 1,135 firearm trace 
requests to the ATF National Tracing Center (down from the 
1327 trace requests submitted in 2003).  This is not the 
total number of firearms seized throughout Canada, but rather 
those believed to be of U.S. origin.  The ATF Crime Gun 
Analysis Branch reports that 69% of firearms submitted for 
tracing in CY2004 were identified as U.S.-sourced.  The top 
five states of origin were Washington (70), Texas (60), 
Florida (55), Ohio (59), and Indiana (36).  The top five 
provinces submitting firearms trace requests were: Ontario 
(521), British Columbia (179), Quebec (142), Alberta (133), 
and Manitoba (68).  Of importance, the median length of time 
from the first retail purchase to when the firearm was seized 
by law enforcement was 7.4 years.  The two key law 
enforcement bodies in Canada which deal with guns are the 
Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit (PWEU) in Ontario, and 
NWEST, a branch of the RCMP. 
 
9. (SBU/NF) Three recent investigations are indicative of the 
range of cooperation we have with Canada in dealing with gun 
smuggling.  In November 2004 ATF agents initiated a firearms 
trafficking case based on multiple sales information 
submitted by local guns stores in Indiana.  Through the 
course of the collaborative investigation between the PWEU 
and ATF, six arrests have been made since April 2005.  It is 
now known that 95 guns were trafficked by these individuals 
for gangs in Canada.  In a second case, surveillance of a 
target buying multiple firearms in Georgia and then traveling 
to Michigan led to collaboration with the PWEU.  The 
individual was stopped crossing into Canada and a large sum 
of money discovered, and later investigations led to the 
recovery of eight firearms in Windsor, Detroit.  In March 
2005 a firearm was seized during the execution of a search 
warrant in British Columbia.  A trace conducted by NWEST 
through the ATF National Tracing Center revealed that the 
individual had bought multiple weapons and made multiple 
trips to Canada in the preceding six months.  The individual 
was picked up while crossing the border and arrested with 
five firearms. 
 
WHAT CAN CANADA DO? 
------------------- 
 
10.   (SBU/NF) A number of ideas have surfaced in the past 
week of things Canada could do to improve its ability to 
control the gun flow.  Senator Kenney recommends the 
following: 
 
--    Increase staffing at the borders, improve training for 
border guards, arm Canadian border guards, put RCMP officers 
on the border, and conduct more frequent searches.  (Note: 
others, such as the Customs and Excise Union -- Ceuda -- have 
also come out strongly in favor of arming Canadian border 
guards.) 
--    Raise the personal exemption limit for customs duties 
in order to allow border personnel to focus less on 
collecting taxes and more on finding guns. 
--    Consider closing some of the 139 ports of entry on the 
northern border. 
--    Provide better access to criminal data bases for border 
personnel and improve access to intelligence for all border 
posts. 
 
11. (SBU/NF) MacLean's suggests that Canada increase 
sentences for both Canadians and Americans who cross the 
border with a gun, a crime that currently bring a fine as low 
as $300 or $400.  It also suggests that Ottawa "broaden its 
successful experiment with special, bi-national police units" 
such as IBETs.  "They've been effective, experts say, in 
gathering intelligence and cracking smuggling rings before 
guns reach the streets."  A third idea from MacLean's is that 
Ottawa should press the U.S. to strengthen stateside action 
against gun smugglers in exchange for harmonizing immigration 
and entry laws to address U.S. concerns.  Some suggest making 
gun-smuggling a "keystone issue in talks to create a 
continental security perimeter," and former Ambassador to 
Washington Allan Gottlieb sees the formation over time of 
"bilateral border institutions." 
 
EMBASSY LAW ENFORCEMENT GROUP REVIEW 
------------------------------------ 
 
12. (SBU/NF) ATF offices from Ottawa and Toronto, together 
with ICE Toronto, met with PWEU and RCMP officials on August 
9 to discuss ways to improve coordination on gun smuggling. 
Embassy Law Enforcement Working Group met to discuss the 
issue on August 10 and has begun to develop a list of things 
we can do to close gaps and advance the issue. 
 
13. (SBU/NF) Law Enforcement experts here believe that as 
long as guns are easily available in the United States and 
there is a lucrative market for them in Canada, there will be 
a flow of illegal weapons across the border that will be 
virtually impossible to fully shut it down.  We developed the 
following list of issues that could help to improve our 
cooperation with Canada, and on the margins, would slow down 
the flow of guns.  This is a non-paper which ConGen Toronto 
will share with Premier McGuinty when cleared, and to use for 
the basis of further discussions with the Government of 
Canada on the topic. 
 
PROPOSED NON-PAPER 
------------------ 
 
14. (SBU) Begin proposed non-paper: 
 
Current Cross Border Gun Control Cooperation: 
 
--    The U.S. and Canada have long-standing and very close 
cooperation on a full range of law enforcement and border 
control issues, to include the illegal trafficking of weapons. 
--    The U.S. currently has an Alcohol, Tobacco, and 
Firearms (ATF) agent and an Inspector in Ottawa, and a second 
agent in Vancouver, as well as a team of Department of 
Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents 
in Toronto, who work with the RCMP and the Provincial Weapons 
Enforcement Unit of Ontario to help coordinate with Canadian 
officials our joint efforts to stem the illegal trafficking 
of weapons across the border.  The RCMP also has liaisons in 
Washington who facilitate information sharing from the U.S. 
 
--    Cooperation in gun control is largely channeled through 
the Cross Border Crime Forum's Firearms Trafficking 
Consultative Group, where officials from both countries meet 
frequently to devise common strategies for stemming the flow 
of illegal guns. 
--    In response to increasing concerns about gun 
trafficking, on August 9 representatives of ATF, DHS/ICE, 
PWEU, and the RCMP met in Toronto to explore new ways to 
approach the issue. 
--    Since January 2003, DHS/ICE has investigated 42 cases 
of firearms being illegally exported to Canada. 
--    We have developed a system which electronically allows 
the PWEU to access the ATF National Tracing Center, allowing 
them to conduct traces of weapons that are confiscated during 
crimes. 
--    ATF conducts joint training with the PWEU and NWEST 
specific to illegal firearms trafficking.  Specific courses 
are Illegal Firearms Trafficking, upcoming course scheduled 
for November 2005 in British Columbia, Serial Number 
Restoration Course, as well as Firearms Identification and 
Tracing Course.  The U.S. also has provided training for 
Canadian police officials on gang cases and organized crime. 
--    ATF hosts Canadian law enforcement at ATF's HQ, 
National Tracing Center, and National Firearms Laboratory to 
help them gain a better understanding of ATF assets. On 
August 23, 2005, the ATF attach will accompany the Officer 
in Charge of PWEU, the Firearms and Tracing Enforcement 
Coordinator of PWEU, and the Director, Criminal Intelligence 
Services Ontario to Washington, DC. 
 
Pending Approval by Canada 
 
--    ATF and RCMP are in the process of creating an MOU 
which will electronically link the respective agency's 
ballistics identification system.  Once established, this 
link will allow bullets and casings found at crime scenes and 
captured from seized firearms to be compared with this same 
type of data which was previously uploaded into each agency's 
system.  It is believed that this MOU will help identify and 
target illegal firearms traffickers as well as help solve 
firearms related violent crimes. 
--    We have a joint working group which is sharing 
information on ballistic technology.  Working group has 
developed technical security requirements and awaits RCMP to 
implement these requirements prior to linking the two systems 
electronically for faster checks. 
 
Future Cooperation 
 
--    ATF will be adding an assistant attach to work in 
Toronto in the coming weeks.  Our ATF attachs help run 
traces of guns that have been seized during the commission of 
a crime and submitted for tracing by Canada law enforcement 
in an attempt to identify firearms traffickers.  When 
identified, the investigation is conducted jointly between 
ATF and Canadian law enforcement officials.  This effort, in 
conjunction with ICE agents already working firearms export 
investigations in Toronto, will bolster U.S. efforts in this 
area. 
--    We would like to meet with federal and provincial 
officials under the Cross Border Crime Forum to explore any 
specific ideas that Canada has on where we better collaborate 
to limit the flow of guns. 
--    In an effort to stem the flow of the illegal export of 
weapons from the United States to Canada, the ICE Attache 
Ottawa proposes Project Gun Runner.  Project Gun Runner would 
be a joint operation coordinated with the RCMP, CBSA, ATF and 
CBP.  It would involve focusing traditional investigative 
methods to develop information that could identify vehicles 
associated with individuals, businesses, and organizations 
potentially involved in the illegal transportation of weapons 
to Canada. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
WILKINS