RCMP commissioner open to deploying cadets to harden the border

The RCMP says it's considering deploying Mounties-in-training to help police the Canada-U.S. border as political anxiety over border control mounts in the face of tariff threats from the incoming Trump administration.

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme said the RCMP is looking first at sending uniformed officers from its federal policing department to shore up border patrols. He also said the idea of sending cadets from the training depot in Regina is on the table if there's a resource crunch.

"If there is a surge that is so great that we need additional resources, that could be something," Duheme told reporters Tuesday.

He pointed out that in 2014, RCMP cadets were used to bolster security on Parliament Hill after a gunman shot and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and then stormed Parliament's Centre Block.

Duheme spoke to reporters after testifying before the House of Commons public safety committee Tuesday. He told MPs contingency plans are being put together to address Canada's concerns about a surge in asylum seekers heading north, and to ease the incoming U.S. administration's border concerns.

Last week, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump threatened to slap a 25 per cent tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada when he takes office next month, citing concerns about illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.

Since last week's tariff scare, Canada has committed to procuring more helicopters and drones to patrol the border. 

Duheme said the RCMP has asked the federal government for an increase in the number of uniformed officers present at the border.

"But there's also that increase on people who can operate the technology that we're going to get," he said. 

He wouldn't say how many officers he's asked for, adding that the public safety minister will have more to report soon.

"The minister is well in tune to some of the challenges we're facing and they're being addressed," he said.

"I'm looking forward to the investment."

CBSA union asks for expanded mandate 

The request for more federal policing resources comes amid a staffing crunch within the RCMP's federal policing division, which is responsible for border integrity and investigating foreign interference, terrorism and other threats to national security, along with high-level organized crime and cybercrime.

The unit has been losing regular members over the past decade in order to fill vacancies in the contract policing section, the RCMP's boots-on-the-ground policing service in the provinces and territories.

"I've got close to 30 years in here and I think there's not a year that goes by that there's not a different priority [to which] we have to reassign resources," said Duheme.

The head of the union representing Canada Border Services Agency workers has pressed the federal government to turn over some of the RCMP's mandate to border agents.

In an open letter to the federal public safety minister issued Monday, Mark Weber, president of the Customs and Immigration Union, said Ottawa should give the agency the power to patrol the entire border, not just official entry points.

"When considering the extensive mandate of the RCMP, empowering CBSA officers to act and patrol in between ports of entry in collaboration with RCMP officers is a logical step," wrote Weber.

"Doing so will send a strong signal that the Canadian government understands what is needed to protect our border and our communities."

Duheme told reporters he's open to discussing the change but suggested that's a longer-term prospect.

"I think we have to explore different ways of doing things," he said.