WASHINGTON –
Canada’s envoy to the United States says the cross-border Nexus trusted-traveller program is being “held hostage” by a U.S. effort to renegotiate the 20-year-old settlement.
Kirsten Hillman made the feedback at a daylong summit on Canada-U.S. border points going down on the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
The 13 enrolment centres in Canada, collectively staffed by Canadian and U.S. officers, stay closed amid a dispute over authorized protections for the U.S. preclearance officers who work there.
Hillman says because the dispute drags on, the backlog of functions — greater than 350,000 — solely grows, whereas strain to repair it continues to mount.
She says the U.S. is attempting to renegotiate the phrases of the settlement unilaterally, a state of affairs she calls “disappointing” and “irritating.”
The U.S. needs Customs and Border Protection officers on the Canadian centres to have the identical authorized protections they’ve at land border crossings and airports.
“There’s an try and renegotiate the phrases of a 20-year-old program unilaterally, and the program is being held hostage to that effort,” Hillman stated.
“There must be a recognition that we are going to work on the challenges, however we will not have the entire program type of on its knees till we work these via, as a result of it’ll take a while.”
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has stated U.S. customs officers on the Nexus centres aren’t entitled to the identical authorized safety they’ve at airports and the border.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Oct. 13, 2022.