OXBOW - One southeast Saskatchewan rural municipality is expressing its frustration and concern with the reduced hours for border crossings in the province.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in conjunction with the Canada Border Services Agency, announced new uniformed hours at crossings in Canada and the U.S., including four in southeast Saskatchewan and North Dakota, effective Jan. 6, 2025.
Noonan-Estevan, Fortuna-Oungre and Carievale-Sherwood will be open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily, while Northgate will be open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (All are North Dakota times).
For those heading to the U.S., Sherwood is currently open from 9 a.m.-7 p.m., while Noonan, Fortuna and Northgate are open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
For those heading to Canada, Estevan, Oungre, Northgate and Carievale are all open from 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
The decision does not affect the hours at North Portal, which is open 24 hours a day throughout the year.
The RM of Enniskillen is particularly concerned about the hours at the Port of Northgate, located within its boundaries southwest of Oxbow.
In a letter sent to Dominic LeBlanc, who is the federal minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, and more than 40 other recipients, including the Mercury and SaskToday, the RM's chief administrative officer, Pamela Bartlett, outlined numerous concerns for the RM, including the future of the Northgate border crossing.
"The Rural Municipality of Enniskillen No. 3 council is very displeased with the recent announcement regarding the reduction of port entry hours. We have been informed that these reduced hours will be permanent and that border closures are also a possibility," she wrote.
"We urge that this decision be reconsidered."
The impact of the reduced border hours that were imposed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was "evident", she wrote, and Bartlett said it is "shocking" that this decision has been made again without any public consultation.
"These border crossings are not just physical points of entry; they are lifelines for our municipality's ratepayers. The reduction in hours impacts them daily, disrupting their routines and livelihoods."
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) works closely with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP). We support national security, protect public safety, and facilitate the free flow of legitimate trade and travel on both sides of our shared border. Every day last year, $3.6 billion worth of goods and services and about 400,000 people crossed the Canada-U.S. border.
Rebecca Purdy, a senior spokesperson with the Canada Border Services Agency, said better alignment of service hours between Canadian and U.S. ports of entry increases the overall security of the border. Both Canada and the U.S. are making changes to hours of services to better align with each other.
"This change allows both countries to address issues caused by misaligned hours, including security risks of open gates at closed ports of entry, difficulty for CBSA and US CBP to co-ordinate in the event of an incident, and delays in returning inadmissible travellers and goods to the other country," she wrote in an email to the Mercury and SaskToday.
"This is not a cost-saving initiative. This alignment of hours with US CBP is driven by joint border security. Better alignment of service hours between Canadian and U.S. ports of entry enhances the overall security of the border and allows the agency to use our resources more efficiently by deploying officers to busier ports of entry where there are higher volumes of travellers and potentially high-risk activities."
These changes were made based on an analysis of operational pressures, peak periods and services required, she said. According to Purdy, data indicated that most of these ports of entry process an average of two or less cars or commercial trucks per hour during the hours that will no longer be in operation.
For the majority of these ports of entry, there is an alternative crossing option within 50 kilometres, and others have an alternative within 100 kilometres at the most. Commercial impacts of these changes are further minimized through pre-arrival and electronic reporting of goods.
Bartlett believes several industries will be affected by the change. In terms of agriculture, she noted many of the RM's ratepayers live in the U.S. and own farmland in Canada. Their work hours often do not align with the new hours at Northgate, and many rely on parts suppliers in the United States, particularly Minot.
"If local businesses do not have the necessary parts, our farmers must travel to the United States to pick them up, repair their equipment, and return to farming. Livestock producers also travel to North Dakota to purchase essential livestock supplies. The reduction in border hours severely hampers their operations and the overall farming industry."
She also mentioned dual citizens and border families, of which she said the RM has many. Reduced hours, and the potential permanent closure of the border, would create significant
hardships for these families. Further limiting their time together would strain relationships.
"They have already lost cherished memories and precious time; additional restrictions would disrupt their future opportunities to reconnect and make memories," she wrote.
Bartlett also cited the impact on oil transportation, as these border crossings are essential for shipping petroleum products to and from southeast Saskatchewan. Truckers would have to travel many additional kilometres to use 24-hour ports, she wrote, or they may see a reduction in working hours since they can't use the closer ports of entry.
"Some of our ratepayers, who are truck drivers, go through the port twice a day with different loads in 12 hours, whereas using the Portal crossing may limit them to just one load due to the extra distance. The truck drivers most affected by these changes are those compensated per load."
The Ceres Global Ag Corp., strategically located along the BNSF Railway at the Northgate crossing, serves as a vital gateway to resource markets.
"The potential loss of daily truck traffic between the United States and Canada, as well as a decrease in rail car loading, would be a significant economic blow that we cannot afford," she wrote.
Bartlett also cited the impact on economy and commerce, noting that Minot is the closest city to Oxbow other than Estevan, and thus plays an important role for everything from shopping to health care; infrastructure impact with additional wear and tear on roads and highways around North Portal; the environmental impact from forcing people to travel further to get to North Portal; and the tourism losses for local attractions such as Grant Devine Lake and Moose Creek Regional Park, which is just over 30 minutes from the Northgate crossing.
"Moose Creek Regional Park is as significant to North Dakota as Mouse River Park is to southeast Saskatchewan."
Finally, she cited public safety, as fire departments provide mutual aid to neighbouring towns on both sides of the border. She recalled that a couple of years ago, the Portal International Fire Department and the Bowbells Fire Department from North Dakota responded to a mutual aid call in the RM for a ratepayer whose shop was on fire. A nearby bin filled with fertilizer posed an additional risk.
"We relied heavily on neighbouring fire departments, and had this incident occurred after 6 or 7 p.m., the outcome could have been significantly different," she wrote.
Then there was a grass fire in 2020 that consumed 4,000 acres of land, requiring the efforts of 11 departments to extinguish the blaze. The Portal International Fire Department was the first to respond.
The RM hopes the Northgate and Carievale Ports of Entry will be removed from the list of locations that will see a reduction in hours.
Bartlett has since forwarded a couple of other emails, including one from Kelly Armstrong, a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Dakota, who wrote that because of the CBP's inaction to address the importance of these extended hours for so many North Dakotans, he has introduced legislation requiring CBP's hours of operations at northern ports to match or exceed pre-pandemic hours. This bill has also been introduced in the U.S. Senate.
