Public Safety committee  Thank you very much. It is very dangerous. Again, I'm a border services agent. I can tell you that especially before the Conservative government doubled up at certain places and armed our officers, there was a policy that basically said when you see dangerous and armed folks com

Public Safety committee  I would say to give us the mandate, at least, to patrol the border with the RCMP and other police forces. Increase the manpower out there on the border.

Public Safety committee  Yes. Thank you very much. I can tell you that I agree with my colleagues here that the Cornwall thing did slow down the contraband to a certain extent, but believe me, it's a very lucrative business, and you can be sure that they will adjust their strategy accordingly. They're s

Public Safety committee  We are not really.

Public Safety committee  The Customs and Immigration Union.

Public Safety committee  The biggest change observed was in Cornwall. From the point our officers went to Cornwall, the number of seizures shot up. That is the case for any criminal organization: we have actually become much more effective on the ground, but we see that organized crime is starting to cha

Public Safety committee  Last week, I crossed the Mercier bridge and I had a view of a huge ship transporting cases of cigarettes, at 8:00 in the morning. They are doing it in broad daylight now.

Public Safety committee  The problem is that we are confined to our offices, at present. We are making the argument that the law allows us to take action. If the RCMP asks us to support it, we can do that. However, we simply are not being asked. So it is rather frustrating for our people who would very m

Public Safety committee  I am aware, sir, that there is a task force with the RCMP and the QPP, and I think he was referring to that. But most of that cooperation is built on the intelligence kind of work, which is good. We totally agree that you need to generate intelligence work in order to be able to

Public Safety committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is Jean-Pierre Fortin, and I am the acting national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, which represents front-line officers of the Canada Border Services Agency. So that you are