'I have the will to live': N.B. woman needs double lung transplant
A New Brunswick woman suffering from sarcoidosis, a disease that limits your lung capacity, is in need of a double lung transplant.
Canada and the United States are road-testing a workaround for their irreconcilable differences over Nexus -- evidence, officials say, of a shared bilateral commitment to the treasured but imperilled fast-traveller program.
The pilot project underway at the Thousand Islands border crossing between Ontario and New York state marks the first signs of life for a Nexus enrolment centre north of the border since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But it also suggests that the days of customs agents from both countries conducting joint interviews inside a shared space on Canadian soil are likely over -- at least for the foreseeable future.
"Canada and the U.S. continue discussions about the reopening of Canadian enrolment centres and are pursuing solutions to address the current backlog," Canada Border Services Agency spokesperson Rebecca Purdy said in a statement.
Senior management officials from both CBSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection met earlier this month in person as part of that ongoing effort, Purdy said.
"These discussions include options for shorter-term measures that continue to increase the number of people being issued new or renewed Nexus cards each month."
The pilot project has been underway since late September at the Thousand Islands bridge crossing between Alexandria Bay, N.Y., and the Ontario town of Landsdowne, about 50 kilometres east of Kingston, Ont.
Nexus applicants are interviewed in person by a Canada Border Services Agency officer before crossing the border to sit down with an agent from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and to be photographed and fingerprinted.
"The CBSA and U.S. CBP are actively exploring the expansion of this pilot to additional locations along the border where demand and capacity are greatest."
It's a far cry from how Nexus interviews have traditionally been conducted in both countries, with applicants sitting down for an in-person interview that's jointly conducted by officers from the two agencies in the same room.
That process has been going on as normal in the U.S. since April, when the 13 Nexus centres south of the border re-opened for joint interviews after a two-year pandemic-driven hiatus.
Customs and Border Protection, however, won't send agents to staff centres in Canada without being guaranteed the same legal protections they enjoy on U.S. soil -- a condition the federal government in Canada considers a non-starter.
The impasse turned into a full-blown diplomatic row in October when Kirsten Hillman, Canada's U.S. envoy, said the program was being "held hostage" to a unilateral attempt to renegotiate the bilateral preclearance agreement under which Nexus was established.
Business leaders and elected officials in both countries have been pressing the two sides to find a solution, describing Nexus as a critical component of the cross-border trade and commercial ties between Canada and the U.S.
That includes a coalition of U.S. lawmakers -- Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) -- who wrote to their Canadian counterparts earlier this month.
"Trusted-traveller programs, including Nexus, are critical tools in facilitating cross-border travel and commerce. ... However, the delays in processing new Nexus applications have severely diminished the program's effectiveness," they wrote.
The letter cited Customs and Border Protection data that showed the current average wait time is 16.5 months for a Nexus application that requires any level of review.
It goes on to acknowledge "the implications, sensitivities and complex nature" of the issue, which include "the sovereignty of both countries."
Purdy said 49,482 new, renewed or replacement Nexus cards were issued between Oct. 6 and Nov. 5 -- progress, but a far cry from the backlog of more than 330,000 applications cited in the Higgins letter.
The pilot project is reminiscent of a proposal floated earlier this month by Scotty Greenwood, chief executive of the Canadian American Business Council, who has been among those pushing hard for a resolution.
She said that idea came about while brainstorming with Matt Morrison, the head of a cross-border economic development coalition of western U.S. states and Canadian provinces known as the Pacific Northwest Economic Region.
Greenwood's council has launched a public awareness campaign called Save Nexus that encourages visitors to the website savenexus.ca to pressure members of Parliament to reopen the enrolment centres.
The site has generated more than 1,500 emails so far, said Greenwood, who urged both agencies to be more transparent about their efforts to date.
"I don't know why this is so hard on the Canadian side -- I really don't, because there's so much benefit," she said. "The pain points aren't on the U.S. side, the pain points are on the Canadian side."
She also acknowledged that separate in-person interviews likely won't be as efficient as the existing system -- and that there may not be a solution available that allows U.S. and Canadian agents to work alongside each other in Canada.
"The idea of decoupling is something that's workable -- it's not as good, but it's something that could work," Greenwood said.
"It's not as good as solving the underlying issues, but it might be the only thing we can do."
A New Brunswick woman suffering from sarcoidosis, a disease that limits your lung capacity, is in need of a double lung transplant.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Video of a suspect lighting a Richmond Hill barbershop on fire earlier this week has been released by police.
Crucial witnesses took the stand in the second week of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, including a California lawyer who negotiated deals at the center of the case and a longtime adviser to the former president.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.