“All of our members are sensitive to the environment in which they work,” says Ron Moran, “and regularly take precautions to ensure potentially tense situations don’t flare up and become unnecessarily aggravated. The individual with whom they interacted on Friday immediately became belligerent and made a call using her cell phone. Shortly after the call was placed, individuals began showing up adjacent to the fencing that surrounds the Customs facility taking pictures of Customs Officers and the vehicles they drive. This made our members feel intimidated and threatened.”

Moran is the National President of the Customs Excise Union Douanes Accise (CEUDA) representing 10,500 members at the Canada Revenue Agency and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), more than 5,000 of whom are this country’s Customs Officers which include the uniformed Front-Line Customs Officers, as well as the Investigation, Intelligence, and Trade Customs Officers.

While there are harmonious relations between just about every Akwesasne resident and the Customs Officers working on Cornwall Island, it is a known fact that there exists a history of hostility directed by a few residents toward Customs Officers.  Moran says, “I have personally seen bullet holes marking the outside walls of the building that, by the way, also happens to be the only Customs building in the country with bullet proof windows to protect Customs Officers.”

Fear escalated until Customs management called the Mohawk Akwesasne Police to escort the Customs Officers operating the VACIS truck off Cornwall Island for their own safety.

All Customs Officers who remained at the border crossing exercised their right to refuse dangerous work, withdrawing their services under Section 128 of the Canada Labour Code, on the grounds that the work site had become too dangerous for them to work in without the protection of a side-arm or the protection of an armed police presence on the premise.

A Labour Affairs Officer from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) was called in to investigate and has yet to rule on the matter. In the interim of a ruling, Customs Officers agreed to return to work at 5:00 p.m., Saturday, November 19, 2005, because Customs management called in armed police to secure the Customs facility; 3 armed police officers are currently on site providing that security.  

Moran also stated that “Both CEUDA and the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence agree an armed presence is required at all border crossings, and the Deputy Prime Minister indicated on October 31, 2005, to this very Committee that she will place an armed presence at the border hoping to make an announcement about this within a few months.”

Moran concludes by saying that, “While the Canada Border Services Agency has gone out of its way to deny the reality of dangers at the border, continuously placing our members in harm’s way, we’re pleased to see all stakeholders now acknowledge the need for an immediate armed presence at the Port of Cornwall which certainly confirms the dangerous nature of this particular port.  Customs management must now take immediate action to secure the working environment of all Customs Officers across Canada.”