BY JEFF SHANTZ
TORONTO — The Great Lakes Security Summit, held here April 7-9, brought together Canadian provincial premiers and US state governors from the Great Lakes region for a conference on Canada-US "border security". Also present were US and Canadian immigration officials, police representatives and business leaders.
Part of broader government efforts to develop a regional economic and security zone, the summit focused on integrating policing at all levels and across borders, harmonising Canadian and US security and immigration laws and facilitating freer trade between Canadian provinces and US states. At the same time as the summit sought ways to free the flow of goods across borders, it sought increased restrictions on the movement of people between Canada and the US.
The neoliberal Ontario provincial premier, Ernie Eves, who hosted the conference, and its minister of public safety and security Bob Runciman have some of the strongest advocates of free trade and immigration controls. Runciman has already called for an "Australian-style" detention system for asylum seekers. In Ontario alone, in 2002, C$60 million was designated for public safety and security issues. That budget is set to increase by another $8 million for 2003 with more money for border policing.
In the early days of the US-led attack on Iraq, the Ontario government implemented emergency plans to ensure the easy flow of corporate traffic across the border while limiting the movement of people. Part of the emergency plan for the border included closed consultations involving the Ontario Provincial Police, trucking industry representatives, business leaders, Canadaian Customs and US government officials.
In opposition to the Great Lakes Security Summit, a counter summit, entitled "Do you feel secure?", was organised by various community groups under the banner, "No-one is illegal". The counter conference held workshops and panel discussions on the issues of defending immigrants and refugees, aboriginal self-determination, imperialism and colonialism, and solidarity against capitalism.
Pickets outside the summit site, the posh Sutton Place Hotel on Bay Street (Canada's "Wall Street"), were held on April 6 and 7. During the April 7 action, police became quite aggressive and eventually arrested one of the picketers.
These actions are part of the growing "No-one is illegal" campaign in Canada, which is building solidarity with immigrants and refugees, indigenous communities, trade unionists and anti-poverty activists against the attacks on the working class which, under the veil of "security", are creating miserable insecurity within our communities.
From Green Left Weekly, April 16, 2003.
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