Travellers traversing the border crossing that divides the Quebec town of St-Armand from Morses Line, Vt. might notice something missing.
The small port of entry between Canada and the United States has no customs agents on site between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. The lack of personnel might seem justified by the tininess of the crossing – just 50 vehicles cross per day and during peak daytime hours, there are only two customs agents on post.
The transition is part of a pilot project that has customs officers working remotely from Hamilton, dubbed remote traveler processing. It’s allowed this crossing to remain open at all hours when until it began earlier in January, Morses Line crossing closed at 4:00 p.m.
“There’s a physical officer whom you are interacting with, he’s just not on site. He’s at the Canada Border Services Agency telephone reporting centre,” said CBSA spokesperson Claudia Rosetti.
Under the system, the agents are able to view the passengers of a vehicle attempting to cross via cameras and an intercom system enables two-way voice communication. Passport scanning and other questioning is all done remotely.
Backup systems are in place, just in case.
“If, for any reason, they would have a doubt, or if they aren’t satisfied with what they are able to see at a distance, there is an agreement with the responding port who is nearby, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Rosetti. “They are able to dispatch officers to respond on site.”
The system has its critics. CBSA union official Jean-Pierre Fortin said the new system is not bulletproof and cameras will never be able to fully replace actual people.
“With the level of staffing that we’re having right now, I’m not sure that they can send people at all times,” he said. “The camera doesn’t show everything, they don’t show every angle, they don’t show the body language when people are being more nervous.”
The pilot project expires later in January, after which a review will take place to decide if it will become permanent.
