Canadian Nexus centres to reopen in spring along with U.S. interviews at airports – National | 24CA News

Canada and the United States stated Tuesday they count on Canadian Nexus enrolment centres to reopen within the spring alongside a brand new program permitting U.S.-led interviews to be carried out at Canadian airports.

The deal, reached on the sidelines of the North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City, is meant to additional scale back the backlog of candidates for the trusted-traveller program between the 2 international locations, which has been caught up in a diplomatic dispute.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated in a joint assertion that interviews with U.S. border brokers will quickly start going down at Canadian airport amenities that already present pre-clearance companies for travellers heading stateside.

Nexus candidates, who should be interviewed by each Canadian and U.S. authorities, would sit down with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers for that portion of the method previous to travelling to the U.S., supplied they’re travelling imminently and leaving from an airport the place customs preclearance is an choice.

International airports in Canada that supply preclearance companies embrace these in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa and Winnipeg, in addition to Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

“The work reaffirms the cooperative and effective advantages and relationship Canada and the United States share in managing an efficient border between our two countries, to the great benefit of citizens of both countries,” the joint assertion stated.

The announcement marks the primary time since earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic that U.S. interviews will probably be allowed on Canadian soil. But it stays a far cry from how Nexus interviews have historically been carried out in each international locations, with candidates sitting down for an in-person interview that’s collectively carried out by officers from the 2 businesses in the identical room.

The U.S. reopened its 13 Nexus centres in April to permit that joint interview course of to proceed as regular. But CBP has insisted Canada grant its brokers the identical authorized protections they take pleasure in on U.S. soil earlier than returning to Canadian Nexus centres, which Ottawa has refused to entertain.

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As a workaround, Canada and the U.S. started permitting Canadian candidates to be collectively interviewed at American land border crossings late final yr, to be able to start addressing a backlog that reached as excessive as 350,000 candidates by early fall 2022.

Mendicino and Mayorkas stated Tuesday that hours at these centres have been expanded whereas employees have accelerated approval for over 80 per cent of renewing candidates.

Since October, in response to Tuesday’s joint assertion, a record-breaking 203,000 enrolments have been accomplished and the online backlog has been decreased by 100,000 candidates.

Canadian officers, together with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, are attending the “Three Amigos” summit with leaders from the U.S. and Mexico to debate a spread of points, together with migration and financial cooperation.

At a joint media availability Tuesday afternoon, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador praised Trudeau for Canada’s short-term visa program for migrant employees, which he stated has benefitted 25,000 Mexican candidates.

Lopez Obrador appeared to match the Canadian program to U.S. immigration coverage, which has remained a thorny political challenge for many years. U.S. President Joe Biden, who additionally attended the summit, has been criticized by conservative lawmakers for his response to an inflow of migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“This is a path to follow for orderly migration,” Lopez Obrador stated whereas talking in regards to the Canadian visa program.

“Prime Minister Trudeau is a great ally of Mexico.”

Asked about Canada’s response to the continuing disaster in Haiti — one other subject of debate on the summit — Trudeau repeated previous remarks that Ottawa will solely act primarily based on a political consensus of Haitians.

Haitian President Ariel Henry has referred to as for a global navy intervention to permit for humanitarian assist to circulate into the nation, which has been paralyzed by gangs which have taken over the capital and wreaked violence, and to create circumstances secure sufficient to carry an election.

Washington, which helps the concept, has stated Canada could be an excellent nation to guide such a power.

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Ottawa has responded by slapping sanctions on high Haitian officers deemed complicit with the gangs liable for the disaster and sending assist to the nation.

“We’re going to make sure what we do this time allows for the Haitian people to get this situation under control,” Trudeau stated Tuesday.

Trudeau additionally reaffirmed the significance of Canada’s recently-announced essential minerals technique to serving to North America fill provide chain gaps created by the pandemic and the area’s shift away from suppliers like China.

— with information from the Canadian Press

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