Passports?

As many of you already know the government is required citizens to have a passport when going international as of January 23rd. Although the law is primarily directed at airline travel, all forms of travel may soon require a passport, even within the United States...

Canada to Arm Its Border Guards

from NY times, last year, sept. 2006. Until I figure how to link, you get the full text. (apologies for length)

by CHRISTOPHER MASON

Published: September 1, 2006

Responding to a demand from border guards for weapons to defend themselves and combat criminals, the federal government said Thursday that it would begin arming guards in September 2007.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said some guards would begin receiving firearms next fall, with about 150 expected to be armed by March 2008. But it will take at least a decade to arm all of the nearly 5,000 guards along Canada's southern border, Mr. Harper said. That part of the border runs 3,145 miles on land and nears 4,000 miles when water boundaries are included.

The plan calls for 500 to 600 guards to be armed each year over the course of the program.

Mr. Harper, announcing the plan at a crossing south of Vancouver, British Columbia, said the move was ''vital to our country's economy, and will protect the safety and security of all of our local communities.''

The plan will also add a second guard at crossings that now have only one on duty, an increase of 400 guards at a cost of about $91 million.

Larger crossings, like the one at Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, will remain relatively unaffected at first because the Royal Canadian Mounted Police already provide armed security there. The guards at airports will not receive firearms because armed police officers are present.

The unarmed guards, members of the Canada Border Services Agency, have walked off the job several times in the past year, saying they need guns to defend the border and themselves. The union representing them threatened a strike over the issue in 2005. In January, Canadian guards in British Columbia fled their posts amid reports that two gun-wielding suspects were headed north for the border. Armed American officials apprehended the suspects.

That incident came days after a federal election campaign that pitted the long-ruling Liberal Party against Mr. Harper's Conservatives. The Liberal Party opposed the arming of border guards, offering instead to add armed officers of the mounted police at the busiest crossings. Mr. Harper promised more border guards and firearms for them.

Some experts see the move as an acknowledgment that border security is a growing concern, even if it comes at the expense of smooth-flowing border traffic.

''It's a move away from the border being a place where essentially we collect taxes -- recognition that it has a real security component to it that directly affects the safety and security of Canadians,'' Scott Newark, a security expert, said in a television interview.

Since taking office in February, Mr. Harper has tried to improve relations with the White House through an increased role in Afghanistan, a greater willingness to settle trade disputes and a more conservative stance on social issues.

Mr. Harper's decision to arm guards may allay fears in the United States that Canada is not doing its part to secure the border. When 17 homegrown terrorism suspects were arrested in Toronto in June, several American newspapers ran editorials questioning the attention paid to the Canadian border at a time when most of the focus was on Mexico.

The Terminal

I am not quite sure whether we can recommend videos as well for the blog, but I was watching a movie this past week-end and I thought that it would interest some of you guys in some ways, if you haven't watched it yet. The tiltle is "The Terminal" starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Z. Jones.
It's about a visitor (Viktor, played by Tom Hanks) from Eastern Europe who was refused access through the Kennedy airport in NY to enter the US, due to a coup that erupted in his homeland while he was en route for the US. It became a complex situation as he refused to go back home and managed to live in the airport until the coup was over. The interesting part about it was that he was glancing at the city through the airport's gate , but he could not cross the gate. On which territory did he stay while being in the airport? I think it is an interesting take on the notion of border, and its complexity.
Hope some of you watch it!

is Windsor really in America?

There is an article on ctools called "Borderline Blues..." from the September/October 2003 Canadian Geographic about the border crossing between Windsor and Detroit. It primarily discusses the ferry crossing and problems with excessive commercial traffic on the Canadian side. However it also includes some great bits about the history of the border from the personal perspective of the author who lived on there for years growing up. He asks whether Windsor is really more of an American city. Read it to find out why.

Unfortunately, I could only get this electronic version which omits the graphs and photos. I went to Hatcher yesterday to track down the hard copy, but it was missing from their bound journals! UGH! ...am still looking as I think the graphs would have some good info.