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Notes
of CEUDA meeting with Minister Cauchon
SEP 26, 2002
The National President and
NVP met with
Minister and addressed four issues, here are our notes from that
meeting
Students
- Minister stated we'll keep having
students as long as he's Minister; he feels they are adequately
trained for what they are asked to do, besides "they are
always with seasoned officers".
- We pointed out some work alone and
others with no supervision other than a phone.
- He feels their work is very
satisfactory and can point to no widespread examples of problems.
- We mentioned the EKOS report and its
statement that 50,000 entered Canada without proper immigration
documentation.
- He feels there is no increased threat
to communities with students there.
- We requested we would prefer no
students be in uniform but if they wish to work for customs be
there in administrative functions, not primary or secondary.
- We argued training not sufficient and
that there are significantly higher student numbers on the line in
summer when officers take leave - see Auditor Generals report.
- Minister took note of our request and
instructed Lefebvre to look into it.
- We suggested our summer staffing be
similar to that currently employed by US Customs where they
utilize terms and part-time officers for summer workload and
ensure they receive sufficient training. Also the customs
program can count on the longer term employment of trained
officers for many years, not just the 2 or 3 that a student is
typically there.
Remote Ports
- Minister advised to double up shifts
at these sites would be over $10M and he was not prepared to do
that considering the low traffic and minimal risk.
- CEUDA requested expansion of FRT
teams so that they could provide more frequent visits to these
sites, conduct special projects (ie after hours surveillance,
secondary blitzes, etc), conduct specialized training, and work
joint projects with other agencies (ie immigration, agriculture,
etc.).
- Minister considered this a good
suggestion - asked Lefebvre to look into this.
IT/Facility Improvements
- Minister advised he was in favour of
upgrading info technology and data bases at all ports.
- He advised currently $20M will be
invested this year.
- His current procurement schedule was
to have all ports fitted up by 2004.
-
In light of Sept. 11 this schedule
will be expedited.
- IT will complement and assist
officers, not replace them.
- The only limiting factors will be
procurement of equipment and installation but he expects this to
proceed quickly and much sooner than the 2004 date.
CANPASS
-
We asked when canpass would be back
up - no decision as of yet, still reviewing.
-
Requested more control of canpass
applicants (current data base has 10% wrong addresses) and
much greater number of secondary inspections done on users.
- Minister agreed secondarys were low
and that they must be increased.
-
We suggested more FRT teams to do
secondary and surveillance of airports.
- Minister agreed this important and
deserves consideration but right now first priority is to secure
frontiers.
In conclusion, the Minister stated he
believes in what he is doing and is proud of the Customs program.
He wants to build a first class service.
The Minister stated we could work with him
to achieve that goal or we were free to go to the media and get
our two days of fame. Then the media would forget the issue
and move onto something else. He stated he was going to a
meeting next with the US Ambassador. There is talk about the
perimeter concept but Cauchon feels there will always be a border.
The
Minister invited us to contact him
again should we have concerns and he feels our input has been
helpful.
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