Manitoba conservation officers, tasked with border duties, haven’t seen much

A border marker is shown just outside of Emerson, Man. on Thursday, January 20, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG — It’s been 11 months since Manitoba started using conservation officers as extra sets of eyes on the United States border in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims that migrants and drug-smugglers were pouring in from Canada.

And it turns out they haven’t seen much at all.

“To my knowledge, there was actually no activity that they observed,” Ian Bushie, Manitoba’s natural resources minister, said in an interview.

Kyle Ross, head of the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union, which represents conservation officers, said he hadn’t heard of any incidents either.

And in response to a freedom of information request by The Canadian Press, the natural resources department said it found no records showing that conservation officers helped seize drugs, stop migrants or make arrests. RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency directed questions to the Manitoba government.

The announcement last winter that 11 conservation officers would be shifted closer to border areas was one of several moves by Ottawa and the provinces in response to Trump’s threats to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods.

At the time, Trump accused Canada and Mexico of not doing enough to prevent illegal border crossings and the smuggling of illicit drugs such as fentanyl. Trump’s positions on, and rationales for, specific tariffs later shifted.

In Manitoba, the government had conservation officers who already work in the southern part of the province spend time closer to the border and inform police and border officials about any suspicious activity. Premier Wab Kinew said the extra personnel could also boost humanitarian efforts if they came across migrants exposed to frigid weather.

The security plan, which also included more overtime for RCMP officers and money for snowmobiles and other items, was estimated to cost $1.4 million.

It’s not surprising that governments would be willing to boost border surveillance and attempt to dissuade the U.S. from imposing tariffs on Canadian businesses, a political analyst said.

“Really it is optics to the Trump administration that the Canadian government, the Manitoba government, is doing something to prevent illegal trafficking,” said Christopher Adams, adjunct professor of political science at the University of Manitoba.

“This is just an example of what they can bring to the conversation when they’re in Washington, lobbying, saying, ‘Look, we’re doing everything we can and I hope you’re happy with that.’”

RCMP and border agents, without the help of conservation officers, continue to seize drugs and detain people suspected of illicit border crossing.

The number of foreign nationals being detained after coming into Manitoba on suspicion of entering illegally has been in the single digits in each of the last quarterly periods, statistics from the Canada Border Services Agency show. And those numbers include people arriving at airports and other areas away from the border.

The number of people apprehended by U.S. border patrol in the Grand Forks district — a wider area that includes North Dakota, Minnesota and other states — on suspicion of illegal entry has been largely in the double digits in recent months, statistics from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency show.

Bushie said the announcement of stepped-up border surveillance may have had a preventive effect in dissuading some people from attempting to cross the border. He also said the conservation officers were only moved within their own districts and didn’t take away from work elsewhere.

But the union disagrees. Ross said the conservation service has vacant positions and the border work leaves less time for officers to enforce hunting laws and perform other duties.

“That takes them away from what they’re able to do and what their day-to-day work is,” Ross said.

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press