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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 OTTAWA 000434 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DHS FOR OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PBTS PREL PGOV ETRD ECON PTER CA
SUBJECT:  SUCCESSFUL VISIT TO CANADA BY DHS SECRETARY NAPOLITANO 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  DHS Secretary Napolitano held productive 
meetings in Ottawa on May 27 with PM Harper, National Security 
Advisor Morin, Public Safety Minister Van Loan, and Citizenship 
Minister Kenney, at which Canadian officials pledged cooperation on 
border issues, especially in facing threats from terrorism and 
crime, which affect both our countries.  She heard concerns from 
business leaders that U.S. border measures were hindering trade. 
She signed the landmark "Shiprider" agreement -- integrated maritime 
law enforcement operations -- during a stop to the Detroit/Windsor 
border on May 26, and announced an agreement on a framework for the 
movement of people and goods across the U.S. Canada border during 
and following an emergency.   Secretary Napolitano and Minister Van 
Loan agreed to meet at least twice a year in the future.  End 
Summary. 
 
The Prime Minister 
------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  During a May 27 visit to Ottawa, Secretary of Homeland 
Security Janet Napolitano met with a range of high level Canadian 
officials, accompanied by Charge d'Affaires Breese.  The meeting 
with Prime Minister Stephen Harper focused on the implementation of 
the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), Canadian concerns 
about U.S. security measures at the border, and land preclearance. 
PM Harper reiterated his statement from the joint press conference 
with President Obama on February 19 that threats to the United 
States and Canada are shared.  However, he expressed concern about 
U.S. statements regarding "parity" between the Mexican and Canadian 
borders.  He highlighted Canadian perceptions that the borders are 
significantly different and insisted that they should not be treated 
the same.  The Prime Minister stated his overall security concerns 
were similar to those of the United States, but underlined 
particular concern about any emerging nexus between organized crime 
and terrorism. 
 
National Security Advisor 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  In a separate meeting, National Security Advisor 
Marie-Lucie Morin emphasized that the interagency group of Deputy 
Ministers she leads is focusing on borders and all modes of entry 
into Canada, not just the land border.  She pointed out that 
Canada's air and sea border security directly impacts the U.S. 
because of the shared land border.  She expressed Canada's interest 
in undertaking joint threat assessments.  She also expressed her 
belief that intelligence sharing between our countries is "back on 
track after some unfortunate cases;" CDA Breese commented that the 
Embassy still sees significant problems.  She confirmed that 
Minister Van Loan has the broad policy lead for information sharing 
issues on behalf of the Government of Canada, but that those issues 
also involve Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Justice Canada, 
Transport Canada, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and 
International Trade.  Ms. Morin pledged that Canada would like to 
work with the United States on security cooperation with Mexico, and 
expressed appreciation for the strong U.S.-Canada-Mexico 
collaboration to address the recent H1N1 virus, underscoring the 
value of having protocols in place to address similar situations. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Ms. Morin commented that a secure, stable border is 
important and that, among the serious threats we face, the economic 
threat is high as well.  Ms. Morin said she would lead a delegation 
of senior officials to Washington in September;  Secretary 
Napolitano offered to have DHS officials (specifically DAS Silver) 
QNapolitano offered to have DHS officials (specifically DAS Silver) 
work with her staff and State Department officials on an exchange of 
letters to set up an agenda for this visit.  Ms. Morin asked that 
DHS and her office work together to establish a set of priority 
issues for discussion at the August 2009 North American Leaders 
Summit (NALS).  She emphasized that collaboration needs to focus on 
concrete issues and deliver rapid results. 
 
Public Safety Canada 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  In a meeting on May 27 following the shared Ambassador 
Bridge tour, signing of the Shiprider agreement (see para 14), and 
joint press conference in Detroit the day before, Secretary 
Napolitano met with Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan in Ottawa. 
 She assured Minister Van Loan of DHS' readiness for the 
implementation of WHTI.  She and Van Loan agreed to advance 
discussions at the senior officials' level on developing a joint 
threat assessment, potentially including the private sector in 
particular on threats to critical infrastructure and consequence 
management issues.  Minister Van Loan strongly urged the reopening 
of discussions on land preclearance, but Secretary Napolitano 
cautioned that potential efficiencies were unclear and suggested 
instead discussion on other outstanding preclearance-related issues, 
including private aircraft, marine and rail, and cargo.  Deputy 
Minister Suzanne Hurtubise said she had recently completed 
 
OTTAWA 00000434  002 OF 003 
 
 
consultations with other departments and that Canada would be 
willing to discuss General Aviation/private aircraft preclearance. 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Minister Van Loan agreed to look into the issues on an 
expedited basis raised by CDA Breese, notably the possible provision 
by Canada of status under the air preclearance agreement to CBP 
personnel working in Container Security Initiative Ports in Canada 
and CBP officers conducting preclearance for ferries at Canadian 
terminals.  The Secretary and the Minister agreed to have CBP and 
CBSA conduct a review of the trusted shipper programs -- C-TPAT 
(CBP) and PIP (Canada) -- to see if they could be further 
integrated.  Minister Van Loan indicated his preference to pursue 
with Canadian airlines obtaining "informed consent" from passengers 
overflying the United States to provide their information to the 
United States for Secure Flight.  The Secretary suggested looking at 
subsets of data on arriving passengers that we could share. 
Minister Van Loan discussed collaborating on issues relating to 
domestic radicalization and suggested Canadian Security Intelligence 
Service (CSIS) should meet with DHS officials to discuss outreach 
they have done to diverse populations in Canada.  The Secretary and 
the Minister agreed that the two departments should work together on 
cybersecurity.  They agreed to meet again in late October/November 
2009 -- and at least twice a year thereafter -- and expressed the 
hope of seeing substantial advancement of specific elements of the 
joint agenda at that time. 
 
 
¶7.   (SBU)  Following their meeting, the Secretary and the Minister 
conducted a joint press conference at which they announced agreement 
on a framework for the movement of people and goods across the 
border during and following an emergency.  They also released a 
joint border statement, in which they outlined six shared goals that 
they would work toward during their agree-upon twice-yearly 
meetings.  The goals included developing joint threat and risk 
assessments, advancing initiatives to manage risk while facilitating 
the movement of legitimate goods and people, sharing information to 
prevent people or goods that threaten our safety from entering 
either country or crossing the border, expanding integrated law 
enforcement operations along the shared border and waterways, and 
exploring models for joint or shared border facilities, equipment 
and technology as well as cross-designation of personnel as 
appropriate. 
 
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  In a separate meeting, Minister for Citizenship, 
Immigration, and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney and the Secretary 
discussed immigration, asylum and refugee programs and processes, 
and ways to share additional information to prevent criminals and 
terrorists from entering our immigration or refugee systems.  (This 
was the first time that a DHS Secretary had met with an immigration 
minister.)  Minister Kenney emphasized Canada's desire to look 
closely at visa screening and security in its immigration program. 
He discussed challenges in Canada's refugee and asylum system, in 
particular high numbers of "inland refugee claims" (those made by 
immigrants who travel to Canada by other means and then claim asylum 
after arriving), stating that he was "very concerned about abuse in 
this system."  He admitted that 55% of these inland refugee claims 
are rejected, but because of appeal delays and applications for 
Qare rejected, but because of appeal delays and applications for 
humanitarian exceptions, many are not removed for many years. 
Minister Kenney explained that CIC was preparing a package of 
reforms to the system to address these delays and increase resources 
for removals that would be put forward in the fall. 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  Minister Kenney admitted that Canada was behind the 
United States and the United Kingdom in its fingerprint program, and 
said that CIC was looking to accelerate its implementation in Canada 
ahead of the current 2013 target date.   CDA Breese offered to host 
the Minister at the U.S. Embassy's Consular Section to view the visa 
and fingerprint process at his convenience.  Deputy Minister Fadden 
raised concerns about the difficulties of sharing information, 
including biometric information under the current MOUs between the 
United States and Canada which predate both the creation of CIC and 
DHS.  The Secretary and the Minister agreed to put together an 
appropriate group of officials to discuss the MOU and the legal and 
policy impediments to sharing information for immigration and 
security screening purposes on a more systematic basis, with a goal 
of updating the MOU. 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  Minister Kenney expressed interest in the U.S. Enhanced 
System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) program for Visa Waiver 
entrants.  He admitted that Canada needs to do more in screening 
visitors from Visa Waiver countries.  The Secretary offered to host 
CIC officials in Washington with the DHS ESTA team to brief them. 
Minister Kenney also discussed differences in admissibility criteria 
(in particular on national security issues), stating there have been 
 
OTTAWA 00000434  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
cases where the United States has admitted persons Canada has kept 
out, and objecting that Canada is somehow "softer on immigration." 
(Comment: The reference was to British MP George Galloway, who was 
denied entry to Canada because of his support for Hamas but was 
admitted to the U.S. for a speaking tour.  End Comment)  The 
Secretary and the Minister agreed to have a group of officials meet 
to develop a matrix to compare and contrast the screening process 
and admissibility criteria between the U.S. and Canada and report 
back. 
 
¶11.  (SBU)  Minister Kenney expressed his strong desire to enhance 
information sharing between Canada and the United States, and 
emphasized that his government is ready to explore legislative 
changes to make greater information sharing possible.  CIC has asked 
that DHS alert CIC when ICE is preparing significantly to ramp-up 
interior immigration enforcement actions, as U.S. enforcement 
activities impact Canada's refugee claimant numbers.  The Secretary 
asked in return that CIC alert DHS to any anticipated changes in 
immigration policies related to Haiti.  Minister Kenney asked to 
meet with the Secretary on an annual basis to further the 
relationship and ensure coordination and communication on 
immigration and visa policy issues, which she agreed would be 
useful. 
 
Private Sector 
----------------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU)  At a May 26 dinner hosted by Canadian-American Business 
Council (CABC) Executive Director Maryscott ("Scotty") Greenwood, 
the Secretary had an opportunity to meet with CABC board members 
from cross-border Canadian business associations and some Canadian 
politicians, including Senator Pamela Wallin and Member of 
Parliament Bev Shipley, as well as former Canadian Ambassador to 
Washington Michael Kergin.  Ambassador Kergin noted his belief that 
the "future of cooperation is real transparency in our intelligence 
and security agencies."  Janet Lambert, former President of 
BIOTECanada, noted that improved security can have economic benefits 
for any sector, and common policies between the countries on 
security measures would be helpful.  She emphasized there does not 
need to be a trade-off between security and trade.  Ron Covais, 
President for the Americas of Lockheed Martin, recommended that DHS 
review recommendations made under the North American Competitiveness 
Council (NACC), a trilateral private sector council of CEOs from 
Canada, Mexico, and the United States, formed several years ago to 
advise the leaders of the three countries under the Security and 
Prosperity Partnership (SPP).  He suggested some of these 
recommendations may be worth considering and that the government 
should ask the private sector to see how technology can make it 
happen. 
 
¶13.  (SBU)  Shirley Ann George of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce 
recommended a joint set of recommendations that the Canadian and 
U.S. Chambers of Commerce developed with "practical ideas" for 
facilitating trade along the border.  Others advised that "language 
matters" when speaking to the Canadian public, and suggested that 
"sovereign border" was a better phrase from the Canadian perspective 
than "real border" and that "convergence" was a better term than 
"harmonization" between U.S. and Canadian policies.  Senator Wallin 
suggested that the current government under PM Harper and in 
particular Minister Kenney were more open to discussing issues of 
immigration policy between our two nations than was previously the 
Qimmigration policy between our two nations than was previously the 
case.   Dave Leach of Greyhound described the difficulties his 
company has with regular bus service at Buffalo; the Secretary asked 
for more details to learn whether the issue is occasional or 
systemic. (DAS Silver and DAS  Kraninger subsequently met with Mr. 
Leach and obtained get additional information for follow up.) 
 
Agreements 
--------------- 
 
¶14.  (SBU)  The Secretary and Minister Van Loan, in a public event 
on May 26 at the Detroit/Windsor border crossing, signed the 
long-awaited "Shiprider" agreement, which will enable integrated 
maritime law enforcement operations to deal with cross-border crime. 
 They also announced an agreement on a framework for the movement of 
people and goods across the U.S. Canada border during and following 
an emergency. 
 
¶15.  (U)  DHS Attach has cleared this message. 
 
BREESE