Monday, July 8, 2013

Shiprider: How US Agents Are Becoming Canadian Police

Also available at mises.ca

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are not something to cheer about. Despite their rosy image as Dudley Do-Right patriotic heroes – they are in fact the federal police force that once dispersed and murdered First Nation communities to protect railroad construction and financial interests, rounded up innocent Japanese and put them into concentration camps and now they’re allowing US agents to exercise authority north of the 49th parallel.



 
That last bit of information may come as bit of a shock to some readers, despite the fact that this news is over one year old. It received little attention in mainstream media and continues to go ignored despite the implementation of this program. As RCMP Chief Superintendent Joe Oliver told the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, “we recognized early that this approach would raise concerns about sovereignty, of privacy, and civil liberties of Canadians… We said ‘Let’s take baby steps, let’s start with two agencies to test the concept, let’s demonstrate to Canadians and Americans that such an approach might work.”
 
The first steps have already been implemented via the Harper government’s omnibus budget bill B-38. Known as “Shiprider,” this program recognizes US agents as a legitimate police force in Canadian waters. According to the RCMP website, “Canadians need to be aware that if they are approached by a United States Coast Guard vessel in Canadian waters, they need to comply with their request as they would with an RCMP vessel.”
 
The next step in this police integration is over land. It’s likely that the FBI will have the same authority as the RCMP on Canadian soil.
 
These initiatives are part of the larger trend blending American and Canadian police enforcement and bureaucracy. With news like this, the “conspiracy theorists” touting a North American Union are looking less crazy and more prophetic.

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