One dispute arose at a time of relative calm in cross-border affairs, with a trade dispute now resolved and pandemic travel rules made it easier. This new controversy has been simmering for months and boiled over in public on Thursday. Includes malfunction in Canada-U.S program for trusted, pre-vetted travelers who can cross the border faster with what’s known as a NEXUS card. The US has closed offices in Canada that process applications for these cards while pushing for changes to the program. A Canadian official made her country’s displeasure clear in an unusually brief assessment before a high-level audience in Washington. “I’m going to be extremely undiplomatic and blunt here because I think that’s important for friends sometimes,” said Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the US. “THE [NEXUS] The program is being held hostage… It’s frustrating and frustrating for us.” He conveyed these sentiments in the presence of many government and industry officials at a conference hosted at the Canadian Embassy and organized by the Future Borders Coalition. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus sat in the front row, yards away. The US wants its employees in NEXUS offices to have immunity from prosecution in Canada, just like the diplomats and customs agents we see here who work in Canadian airports. (Elaine Thompson/The Associated Press) The facility closure stems from a dispute over — not against — immunity from prosecution protection of diplomats.
The US government argues that its employees at NEXUS offices deserve similar immunity from Canadian prosecution while doing their jobs in Canada. These protections already exists for US border agents at Canadian airports working in pre-clearance areas; in the US view, some of these NEXUS offices are co-located in the same facility and it does not make sense for different rules to apply in different parts of the office.

US view: Canada has had years to make this change

The US says it has repeatedly informed Canada over many years that this was a priority. And apparently there has been little progress. “This is not new news,” a spokesman for the US embassy in Ottawa said Thursday. “The United States stands ready to reopen NEXUS centers in Canada once Canada addresses these concerns.” Both countries closed their processing centers during the pandemic. This spring, the US offices reopened. but those in Canada remained closed because the Americans refused to staff them. Hillman said Canada is willing to find a solution. But he said it’s a complicated issue and may not even be possible under Canadian law. It is the US’s hard-line approach that he said he resents. “What I take issue with is the tactics, to be honest with you: I feel like the tactics are heavy-handed and not indicative of the relationship we have,” Hillman said. In an interview later with CBC News, she added: “This is not the way friends do business. It’s unacceptable. We’re getting more and more frustrated. I think it’s important to say that.” WATCHES | Sources previously blamed NEXUS delays on a dispute over weapons:

Nexus delays due to dispute over US agents carrying weapons in Canada: source

Federal government source says backlog of Nexus cards is a result of US agents wanting to carry weapons while on duty at Canadian centres, with Ottawa saying Nexus centers on this side of the border will remain closed until resolved the difference between the two countries.

Could online interviews break the deadlock?

There is now a backlog of more than 334,000 people waiting for NEXUS cards, and Hillman said it’s getting worse every day. He disputed news reports suggesting the main irritant is whether US officials can bring weapons onto Canadian soil. Hillman told CBC News that’s not the issue: “They’re not asking for the right to carry firearms. They’re not.” He said the issue is that Americans want immunity from prosecution for acts committed by Americans while working in a Canadian-based office. He said it’s complicated and these offices are not like airport prelaunch facilities because some are located within Canadian cities. He said he discussed the matter with Department of Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas and is committed to the NEXUS program. A Canada Border Services Agency officer speaks with a traveler at the Nexus office at Ottawa Airport in this 2012 photo. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) A predecessor of Mayorkas who held the role in the Trump administration said the issue had already started to flare up when he was in office. Kevin McAleenan said he did not want to comment further and deferred to the current administration on the matter. But the Trump-era head of the U.S. Border Patrol and interim head of the Department of Homeland Security proposed a more long-term solution: Move everything online. “I would recommend that they look at remote solutions to bridge that gap,” McAleenan told CBC News. “We’ve done it in other contexts.” Trump-era border official Kevin McAleenan says online sessions could solve the problem. He’s also a fan of the ArriveCan app. (Jose Cabezas/Reuters)

Trump Official: I love ArriveCan

Speaking about moving processes online, McAleenan and several other speakers at the conference presented their views on the controversial ArriveCan app. Several defended the much-criticized app and expressed regret that it was seen by the public as a program related to the pandemic. One attendee described it as a way to digitize the customs process and called it a step toward a long-term goal: eliminating physical customs kiosks from airports, simplifying travel. “I’m a fan of the ArriveCAN app,” McAleenan told a panel. “We don’t have that in the U.S. We should have had it before the pandemic.” Speaking on the same panel, his former Canadian counterpart lamented how the app was discredited. Use of ArriveCan is now optional, following a public backlash. “It was a hugely important opportunity for us, and I’m disappointed how a vocal minority gave it such a bad rap in a very short period of time,” said John Ossowski, former president of the Canada Border Services Agency. He said the program became a poster child for resistance against vaccine mandates, when it was really an effort to build a next-generation customs system. He scoffed too References that the developers were able to reproduce the $54 million app in two days: “Did you build the AI ​​tools?” Ossowski said. “You made 70 different versions of it? Did you get it approved on the App Store?”