There are two trusted traveller programs in North America. One is a bilateral program between Canada and the United States.
The other system is managed by the United States and applies to Mexico. Mexico has in fact declined the U.S. invitation to create a bilateral system south of the border.
We have two systems in North America. The Canada-U.S. system is a bilateral system that we have together. The SENTRI system is run by the U.S. for Mexican nationals. Linking the two systems together would allow those Mexicans who have been vetted as part of the SENTRI program to access the U.S. and also to access Canada through the NEXUS program. That's my understanding. You'd have to call in CIC and Public Safety. I've always had difficulty getting answers out of them, but I think that would be a very good point.
If I could also humbly suggest for the committee to look into that because it would also solve some of our problems with Mexico, like the rise of false refugee claimants once again. This is another way to look at diminishing the problem by enhanced use of those who have been cleared by SENTRI for those who have U.S. visas.
In terms of dealing with the problems we have, it also could eventually create a North American space, where people can come into North America, be cleared once, and travel. This is what we're seeing around Asia. With respect to the APEC business travel card, Canada again—I keep saying this—was the last country to adopt the APEC business travel card, after the United States. We fell behind the United States in terms of opening our borders to business people. What's worse—sorry, I'm going on a diversion here—with the APEC card is it appears that we've completely turned over management of Canadians applying for this to the U.S.
I've actually tried to apply for an APEC business travel card. You have to be a NEXUS member, so I applied. I wound up getting bounced to the U.S. global entry system and I filled out things and they asked for identification, but it wouldn't let me use my Canadian passport. I'm binational, so I have two passports and the NEXUS system has my Canadian passport and my American passport, but when I tried to apply for an APEC business travel card, it wouldn't let me use my Canadian passport.
I had to send an email to the U.S. GOES people saying, “Hey, I have a Canadian passport. I'd like to use my Canadian passport. I don't want to use my U.S. passport to apply for the APEC card.” I'm still waiting to hear back from the Americans as to whether or not they're going to let me use my Canadian passport to apply for an APEC business travel card.
Again, get the folks from CIC in here and you may want to ask them about that, but don't tell them I said that.