Thoughts On The Christmas Airline Bombing Attempt

More New Rules of Flight

There’s no point in me trying to give a rundown of what the “new rules” of flight are in the wake of the recent attempted airline bombing. I say there’s no point because the rules change day to day, and will continue to be in flux. Its reactionary, to be sure. At first we heard of restrictions on what could be brought on as carry-on luggage, then there was an all out ban of carry-on luggage except for certain items. Westjet announced changes to their flights, then removed them when the US announced they weren’t required.

All of this within the span of four days.

So we’re going to see more announcements with changes to policies over the next few days. I am so thankful that I’m not flying this holiday, but also feel horribly for the thousands that are and are being affected by all this.

Conspiracy Theories

He acted alone, terrorists took credit for it, the Yemin connection, the supposed alerts his father gave authorities, etc. etc.

Many experts and non-experts will be weighing in on what happened behind the scenes and what transpired to cause this event. Mattew Good has some interesting posts on his blog with various information and thoughts (the guy isn’t just a pretty face with a guitar y’know).

The reality is, like anything (lately at least it seems) to do with the US government, the war on terror, and heightened sensibilities, we’re not going to get the true details; just filtered information from various sources that may corroborate or contradict each other.

My Own Thoughts

So what does this latest incident tell us about the state of the world, our perceived security, and the potential for new threats (and I may sound like I’m throwing my hat in the ring with the other non-experts I mentioned above)?

- While Canadian airports are beefing up security, there’s no talk of what has been done to increase security in Europe which is where this flight originated (or maybe there has been and I haven’t heard/read it, but its not making the news here). So once again Canadians have to suffer thanks to another’s faulty security.

- Threats are still out there, and the more disconcerting part of this incident is that there was no major target. No offense to the people of Detroit, but if you’re going to make a statement that’s probably way low on your list of destinations. However, whether its a guy acting alone or part of a group, the fact that the target wasn’t necessarily any major city or landmark but simply a US-bound aircraft does raise some concerns.

- I wonder if we’re becoming desensitized to the idea of localized attacks? When 9/11 happened, there was no doubt the shock and horror that people felt, both in and out of the US. But this latest attack, while newsworthy, hasn’t seemed to garner the same sort of emotions. This was, regardless of the backstory, an attempted murder of hundreds of people on a flight…one that was carried out not against individuals but against a country. And yet the inconveniences of heightened security (albeit reactionary) seem to trump the potential loss of life that could have resulted. To me, this is scary. In my mind we need to value the fact that we don’t have the issues other countries have: bombings, genocide, violent clashes in streets. When we get desensitized to local violence we’re taking a step backwards, a very dangerous step.

A True Thickening Of The Border

In my last post about Peter Watt’s border issues, I mentioned that it was almost assuredly CBP officers that conducting the search of his vehicle. Now, Peter was coming back into Canada from the US though, so why would he have encountered US border officers?

Well it turns out that the US border doesn’t end with the narrow line between it and Canada/Mexico. In fact, there is a 100 mile “buffer zone” that wraps around the internal edge of the country. Within this zone, checkpoints have been erected that act as a second border.

From the ACLU’s website. Click the image to view their interactive map.

For some Americans, this is a huge violation of the US Constitution and the 4th Amendment. There are also concerns raised that the checkpoints are not entirely focussed on securing the borders, especially when they are placed on east/west roads within the buffer and not north/south.

However, for Canadians, this is an important piece of information to know: you may be stopped by CBP while travelling within the US interior or returning to Canada but before you actually hit the border. And if you are stopped at a checkpoint, remember that the same rules apply there as they do when entering the USA.

For more information on this topic visit:

ACLU Fact Sheet on US “Constitution Free Zone”

ACLU Are You Living in a Constitution Free Zone?

The Peter Watts Incident

Following on the heels of the Amy Goodman incident comes a story about Canadian sci-fi writer Peter Watts and his experience trying to get back into Canada.

Peter had travelled to the US to help a friend move to Nebraska. He tried to return to Canada at Port Huron, Michigan. He was stopped by CBP officers who wanted to search his rental vehicle. Peter blogged about his experience but in a nutshell:

- Was stopped by US CBP officers who wanted to check his vehicle.

- Peter got out of his car and asked what was going on.

- CBP guards told him to get back into his vehicle.

- Some crazy stuff went down including Peter allegedly getting “shit kicked”, pepper sprayed, handcuffed, spending a night in jail, arraigned and charged with assaulting a federal officer, and finally dumped back into Canada minus his jacket in a cold winter storm.

A handful of sites and news agencies have picked up the story, including BoingBoing, Locus Online, and even the National Post.

Now before we get all “Oooo, how horrible!”, there’s a few things that need to be pointed out and clarified to his story:

First off, yes it was indeed US CBP officers that most likely performed the search of his vehicle. You may be wondering why US border guards would be searching a vehicle going back into Canada. Well, my next blog post will explain that, but for now trust me: they’re entitled to.

Secondly, while I never want to see anyone treated this way I have to question his initial actions. Regardless of your personal thoughts and feelings towards officers of the CBP and DHS, they have authority when it comes to border and immigration issues. Part of that authority means that they can search a Canadian’s car without much cause, if any.

Here we have another scenario of a Canadian thinking that they automatically get the equivalent rights of an American citizen (although I know Americans would argue they don’t have many rights given a similar situation either). Stepping out of your vehicle in a foreign country where foreign officers are wanting to perform a search is just stupid. Demanding to know why they can search your vehicle: borderline Darwin award winner.

We (Canadians) are not American. Their constitution applies to them, not us. Their rights and freedoms as American citizens apply to them, not us. Do we have to like that we’re considered aliens, the same as Mexicans are? Do we have to like that the friendlier border between our countries has been replaced with a harsher one? No and no…but we have to respect the border for what it is: a government established boundary that we are given privilege to cross, not a right to.

If you don’t like the rules, don’t cross the border. If you do cross the border, make sure you understand the rules and play by them. If you do, you can avoid what happened to Peter.

The Amy Goodman Incident

Amy Goodman…never heard of her. Apparently she’s an “influential US journalist and host of the Democracy Now radio show”, according to a story from thestar.com.

She’s been in the news as of late though. Here’s the Coles-Notes version:

Amy was scheduled to speak in Vancouver in part to help plug her new book, and particularly about Tommy Douglas and health care. When she got to the border though she was faced with Canadian Border Services agents who were quite interested in what she would be talking about. They asked her whether she would be talking about the Olympics. Amy states:

"I thought the guard meant (U.S. President Barack) Obama going to Copenhagen to talk about the Games in Chicago. I was embarrassed because I didn't realize he meant the Games in Vancouver."

She was detained at the border for 90 minutes, was asked to produce notes on her speech and had her computers searched. She was only given temporary access to Canada: 48 hours.

Apparently this has thrown “Americans in a tizzy” according to the Globe and Mail. Keith Oberman of MSNBC commented about the incident on his daily Countdown show and Lucy Dalglish of Washington based “Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press” was stunned. She was quoted by the Globe and Mail as saying about journalists being harassed:

“You hear about American border officials doing things like this all the time, but not Canada.It's absolutely ridiculous.”

The Canadian Border Services Agency is taking the expected stance of not commenting on specific cases.

Personally, I’m torn on this story.

The irony of this of course is that the American media hasn’t run any stories about the numerous Canadians who faced similar or worse experiences crossing into the US. And I do have to question the quality of a journalist that doesn’t understand major world events happening on their own continent (really Amy, you had *no* idea the Winter Olympics were in Vancouver this winter? Really?!).

Was the Canadian Border Services agents out of line to question her? Not at all. Were they out of line to give her only a 48 hour pass into Canada? Not at all. Americans need to realize that there’s a hardening of the border on both sides. We share a continent, but we are separate countries and while we may long for the pre-9/11 days where our border was more a legality than anything, those days my friends are gone.

The cries of outrage coming from the American media are misplaced. Amy wasn’t coming up to Canada in a journalist role; she was coming to speak but also to plug her new book…this was a marketing event, not someone covering a news story.

With all that said though, the words of Ghandi echo here:

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

While we need to be diligent in ensuring criminals and those that would do harm to our country are kept out, we must ensure that Canada is still a country that values free speech and the opinions and thoughts of others…even if those “others” are from a different country.

There needs to be more transparency within the CBSA. What was the reasoning for only granting a 48 hour pass to someone who (I’m assuming) has no criminal record or any other reason to be outright denied entry into the country? Not commenting on specific cases is a cop-out and there needs to be checks and balances in place so that the public can evaluate the abilities of our border agents.

So while I understand that maybe the border guards were a bit zealous in their questioning and that we’ll never really know why they were so focussed on the 2010 Olympics questions, there’s another part of me that’s irritated as the American response of outrage. She wasn’t banned from Canada, she wasn’t kept from seeing her sick child being cared for in a different country…she was simply questioned and given a short term pass into a foreign country where she delivered her speech as planned. Sorry, but that’s hardly worth all the press that this story has garnered.