New rule puts U.S. Coast Guard in Canadian waters

Canada and the U.S. signed an agreement Monday designed to increase border security by allowing the RCMP and the U.S. Coast Guard to team up and ride in each others’ vessels during border patrols.

[efoods]Known as the Shiprider program, the new rules intend to improve security and eliminate jurisdictional grey areas in Canada-U.S. waterways. Without the new program, vessels must stop at the border and call upon the other country’s officials for help.

The Shiprider program has been used as a pilot program over the past few years to catch smugglers and criminals on joint waterways.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan and his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, signed the agreement Tuesday at a cargo facility at the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit and Windsor, Ont.

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This article was posted: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 1:23 pm

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