U.S. SAYS DRUGS, TERROR POURING IN FROM CANADA

Lawmakers Say 'Lenient' Practices An Open Invitation To Criminal Elements

WASHINGTON - Canada's lax immigration and drug laws have made it a launch
pad for Middle East terrorists, gangs, and crime families operating along
the border with the United States, the chairman of a U.S. judiciary
subcommittee said yesterday.

"A porous border is open invitation for illegal drug smugglers and for
terrorists and their goal of mass destruction," said Rep. Lamar Smith, U.S.
chairman of the subcommittee probing the sharp increase in drugs,
terrorists, and illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. from Canada.

Some 12,000 illegal immigrants were nabbed at the Canada-U.S. border last
year by 279 agents who inspected 113 million people, he said.

"The question is, how many did they miss," he asked.

The possibility of terrorists, armed with weapons of mass destruction, using
Canada as a springboard to sneak into the U.S. on terrorist missions is
making U.S. lawmakers nervous.

"(The Immigration department) and other intelligence reports indicate that
terrorist groups locate in Canada in part because of Canada's liberal visa
and asylum laws and because of the country's proximity to the United
States," Michael Bromwich, the U.S. inspector general for the Justice
Department, told the panel investigating the sharp increase.

In January, Lloyd Axworthy, the Foreign Affairs Minister, travelled to
Jamaica to launch the final element in his "soft power" foreign policy
initiative -- a hemispheric debate on the illegal drug trade. His goal was
to create a special international forum of foreign ministers to find ways to
combat the international drug trade.

The effort was part of his "human security" foreign policy agenda, which
includes protecting civilians from acts of terrorism.

But yesterday the U.S. judiciary subcommittee heard that Canada's lax drug
laws have created a booming trade in the sale of marijuana to the U.S., in
particular from British Columbia, where the Hells Angels motorcycle gang has
increased sales of indoor-grown marijuana to the Los Angeles market, where
it gets more than $4,000 (US) a kilogram.

Drug seizures, mostly along a narrow 100-kilometre strip on the
B.C.-Washington border, soared 600% between 1997 and 1998, to 1,985
kilograms of marijuana last year.

"Their lenient drug policies have moved marijuana growing out of my county
to their country," said Dale Brandland, a sheriff from Whatcom County in
Washington State.

"And it is so easy to get into Canada that something has to be done on that
level."

The problem of illegal drugs from Canada is dwarfed by the 450,000 kilograms
seized along the Mexican border last year, but lawmakers are still alarmed.

"Ten years ago we experienced very little alien or drug smuggling along the
border," said Eugene Davis, deputy chief patrol agent for the U.S. Border
Patrol in Blaine, Wash. "We know that illegal smuggling activity takes place
on a daily basis."

As well, because Canada does not demand visas from as many countries as the
U.S., "this has resulted in many smugglers being able to easily bring
third-country nationals into Canada and smuggle them across the border," he
said.

They all point to famed terrorist Abu Mezer, who was caught three times
trying to enter the U.S. from Canada. When Canada refused to take him back,
he was freed in the U.S. pending his deportation hearing. Mr. Mezer is now
serving a life sentence for plotting to blow up New York's subway system.

"It is clear to me from this case ... that northern border enforcement
issues are vitally important to the security of the United States," said Mr.
Bromwich.

David Harris, a former Canadian government spy, blamed Ottawa's liberal
immigration policies, as well as the country's casual attitude about the
growing international tension, for Canada's increasing attractiveness to
terrorists.

"Terrorism is now alive and well and living in Canada," said Mr. Harris,
president of Insignis Strategic Research in Ottawa and former chief of
strategic planning for CSIS.

Stolen cars, cigarettes and liquor, and chemicals used to make synthetic
drugs were also listed among the items pouring over the border into the
United States.

Lawmakers are at loss on how to handle the problem. Both the committee and
U.S. Border Service want more guards to man the 5,635 kilometres of
undefended border. But the U.S. administration is reluctant to shift its
resources away from the southwest border, where 7,000 guards are now
stationed because of the far larger problem there.

Raymond Chretien, the Canadian ambassador to the U.S., along with several
others, said the best solution was closer co-operation with the RCMP and
provincial police.

"The sharing of the information between these agencies ... represents the
best strategy to prevent the movement of drugs between our two countries and
protect our citizens," Mr. Chretien said in a letter to the committee.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace also called for tighter
immigration control in both Canada and Mexico. "A fortress North America may
be easier to create than a fortress U.S.A.," said Demetrios Papademtrious, a
senior associate at Carnegie.