RCMP looks to redeploy 25 per cent of eastern region workforce, including to border

Asylum seekers try to beat the deadline to cross the border at Roxham Road from New York into Canada Friday March 24, 2023 in Champlain, New York. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)

Ottawa -

The RCMP says it's looking to redeploy up to one-quarter of its eastern region workforce to areas considered an operational priority, including to the Canada-U.S. border.

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump pledged this week to impose 25-per-cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports until more is done to stem illegal border crossings and drug trafficking. 

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The threat spurred calls from premiers and opposition leaders for the federal Liberal government to do more to secure Canada's border.

Among the voices was Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who says she is considering creating a provincial border patrol.

The eastern region for the RCMP includes Quebec and the four Atlantic provinces. Only Quebec and New Brunswick border the U.S. in this region.

Cpl. Martina Pillarova, an RCMP spokesperson, said the temporary redeployment is aimed not only at supporting border integrity, but other federal policing priorities as well.

Pillarova added that this sort of move is not out of the ordinary. "Please note that so far, the situation has remained stable at the border and our operations are proceeding normally."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection credits its own enhanced enforcement with a substantial drop in the number of encounters with migrants at the Canadian border.

But there has also been a significant drop in migration since changes were made to the Safe Third Country Agreement last year to close a loophole that allowed asylum claims outside regular ports of entry.

The agreement states Canada and the U.S. are considered safe places, and asylum seekers need to make a refugee claim in the first country in which they arrive.

Before the changes happened in March 2023, RCMP in Quebec recorded more than 12,000 interceptions in the first three months of last year.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported a 69 per cent drop in recent months in the number of encounters with migrants at the Canadian border in what it calls the Swanton Sector, which covers Vermont and portions of New York's border with Quebec and Ontario.

There were around 1,025 encounters in October, down from about 3,300 in June.

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On the Canadian side, the RCMP says it made 950 interceptions of people trying to cross the border outside regular crossings between January and October.

B.C. and Quebec were the provinces seeing the most interceptions, with 449 and 393 respectively.

The RCMP has not recorded any interceptions at the Alberta-Montana border this year.

U.S. border guards recorded 100 encounters with people in the Havre Sector, which includes the Alberta-Montana border, between October 2023 and September of this year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2024.