How Canada's election may have left ‘gaps' in U.S. travel advice
But with Canada in a caretaker government at the time, bureaucrats weighed the potential 'sensitivities' of acting during a federal election campaign that revolved around U.S.-Canada relations.
Documents obtained by Global News through access to information laws show the department was aware Canadians were concerned about visiting the U.S., but federal officials lagged non-governmental organizations in providing citizens with guidance on the risk of searches of electronics and the possibility of detention.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney triggered a federal election on March 23.
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Canada updated its travel advisory on April 4 urging Canadians to 'expect scrutiny' from U.S. border agents.
The newly-released documents raise questions about whether Global Affairs should have updated that advice sooner, given concerns around U.S. travel and the high-profile detention of at least one Canadian by U.S. border agents last March.
'I think we're seeing here is that they were slow on this and you can't be slow. You have to do your job,' said immigration lawyer and founder of Jain Immigration Law in Toronto Ravi Jain.
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Global Affairs Canada had considered how to respond, 'recognizing the requirement the department has to maintain accurate travel advice for Canadians, at the same time as any sensitivities to any communications during a writ period.'
'Canadians have been critical about the lack of information in the U.S. TAA [Travel Advice and Advisories] about the perceived risks of travelling to the U.S. at this time,' reads an email dated April 2, a week and a half after Carney triggered a federal election.
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But federal officials acknowledged law firms and post-secondary institutions had already acted.
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Bureaucrats noted 'leading migration lawyers and universities' had issued 'their own cautionary advice' to clients and staff by then, the documents obtained by Global News show. That advice often included warnings electronics could be searched.
In a statement, Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Charlotte MacLeod said the department provided 'up-to-date travel information that reflected publicly available information by U.S. government agencies and officials. The intent of the updates was to ensure Canadians have accurate information about traveling to the United States.'
But MacLeod did not answer questions about whether the writ period affected how and when information was shared with Canadians.
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Back in the spring, Jain was one of the lawyers urging the federal government to update its advisory: 'I understand the political sensitivities, but our first responsibility is to our citizens.'
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Federal officials discussed closing 'information gaps' and updating Canadians on what they described as four 'themes': visa applications; enhanced security at border points, including electronics; new U.S. info for stays beyond 30 days; guidance on carrying ID and evidence of status in the U.S. in light of the risk related to ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) operations.
On April 4 — two days after the email was sent to staff at Global Affairs — Ottawa made its updated U.S. travel advice public, warning Canadian citizens could be detained while awaiting deportation if they fail to meet entry or exit requirements.
'Individual border agents often have significant discretion in making those determinations. U.S. authorities strictly enforce entry requirements. Expect scrutiny at ports of entry, including of electronic devices.'
The internal communication highlights the 'intricacies' the department faced during the writ period, as it tried to navigate U.S. President Donald Trump's ever-evolving policies and pronouncements and when to weigh into issues potentially at play during the election.
Caught between a 'rock and a hard place'
'The department was really caught between a rock and a hard place,' said former foreign affairs minister Perrin Beatty.
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Beatty says the caretaker government likely did not want to find itself in the middle of a 'heated' political debate.
A caretaker government operates during this transition period and is expected to limit its actions to essential and urgent matters and avoid making major policy decisions.
'The Canada U.S.-issue was the number one partisan issue in the election they were wary about doing anything… (but) we were seeing developments taking place very rapidly with stories of people being detained at the border or changes coming by the day.'
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Jasmine Mooney, originally from Vancouver, tried to enter the U.S. from Mexico at the San Diego border, and was taken into custody on March 3. She spent nearly two weeks in ICE detention.
Global Affairs was following public interest in her case.
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'Since March 13… we have received 16 media calls on the detention of Canadian citizen Jasmine Mooney,' read the documents.
Federal officials also received more than 5,000 comments on their social media channels related to U.S. travel advice in March, 'the highest ever' received in a single month.
An internal memo contained a 'sentiment scan of the comments' and included calls for Global Affairs Canada 'to update the risk level for travel to the U.S., questions about registration and ICE/Border Patrol (fear of detainment, phone searches.)'
Jain would like to see more detailed advice in the current travel advisory to the U.S.
'We shouldn't be alarmist. Many Canadians are able to travel to travel to the U.S. and face no issues.'
But the immigration lawyer adds federal officials' first obligation should always be informing Canadians as quickly as possible.
'(Politics) shouldn't matter. There's politics to everything.'
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