December 15, 2003

The following article is excerpted from the “Toronto Star” edition of 13 December 2003.            

A new super-ministry to protect the public safety and security of Canadians will help the country face everything from terrorism to health emergencies like SARS, or natural disasters like hurricanes and forest fires.             

Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan (Edmonton West) takes on the title of Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness , responsible for a vast new department that will not be massed under one roof but will focus on a single mission: A more co-ordinated approach to public safety and security, especially in times of crisis when responsibilities overlap.

McLellan, 53, who as justice minister brought in the Anti-Terror Act and as health minister responded to SARS, will oversee the operations of a new stand-alone Border Services Agency.

It has the customs functions that used to be linked to Revenue Canada, as well as everything that was under the solicitor-general's purview: The RCMP, Canada's spy agency CSIS, federal prisons and the national parole board.

The new department will also take over from national defence the operations of the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness, which Prime Minister Paul Martin believes failed spectacularly to meet the challenge of co-ordinating the federal response to the August power blackout. …

Martin said McLellan will "better integrate government efforts to secure the safety of Canadians and protect against and respond to national crises, natural disasters and
emergencies."

He stressed the new border services agency will have the job of "expediting trade and travel between Canada and the United States, while enhancing security measures."              

But Martin went out of his way to stress it will not take over the handling of citizenship, immigration and refugee determination matters — a key difference between it and its United States counterpart, the Department of Homeland Security. …             

The move to separate immigration affairs from security issues is a deliberate one — designed to avoid the impression that the federal government lumps immigrants and refugees in with security concerns, and to avoid the kind of criticism levelled at Kim Campbell's government, which attempted a similar move toward a public security department.           
 

"The idea is to make sure that while we protect the security at the highest-risk areas, we also facilitate commercial and individual travel, and most important, protect the rights of
refugees and immigrants," said a senior government official who briefed reporters. …

And to advise the prime minister on security matters, Martin appointed Robert Wright, a senior bureaucrat in the Privy Council Office, who becomes his new National Security Adviser.

Martin also said he will create a new watchdog agency to oversee the RCMP's that comes amid concerns raised over how the national police force acted in the Maher Arar case. …

"We know we need to identify clearly the agencies and initiatives we have in this government that are focused on protecting Canadian safety and security,'' McLellan said. “And we need to make sure they are all pulling in the same direction as much as possible, and as much as is appropriate, they are integrated into a shared mission of protecting Canadians' safety and security."