OTTAWA - The Canadian Business Council said it was concerned about the continued closure of the Nexus trusted traveler program, which allows pre-screened travelers to speed up processing when entering the United States and Canada.
CEO Goldy Hyder said it was "deeply troubling" that the US government had not reopened the Nexus 13 registration centers, in a letter to David Cohen, the American ambassador to Canada, obtained by The Canadian Press.
The two countries are at loggerheads over a long-standing request by the US Customs and Border Protection agency that its agents be provided with the same legal protections within Nexus facilities in Canada that they currently have at ports of entry such as airports and the Canada-US border. .
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino has cited Canadian sovereignty principles in explaining why US customs officials cannot have the same legal protections at Nexus centers as they do at airports and borders.
Hyder said in his letter to Cohen that he was concerned the dispute would hurt businesses whose employees do not yet have Nexus cards and he strongly urged the ambassador to recommend the re-opening of registration centers.
His comments came after Canada's envoy to the US said the program was being "held hostage" by a unilateral American attempt to renegotiate a pre-grant agreement between the United States and its northern neighbour.
"There was an attempt to unilaterally renegotiate the terms of the 20-year program and the program is being held hostage to that effort," Kirsten Hillman said at a symposium on the Canada-US border hosted last week by the Future Border Coalition.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 16, 2022.
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