Ottawa reopens 2 NEXUS offices in effort to address application backlog | 24CA News

The federal authorities has reopened two NEXUS workplaces in Ontario in an try to deal with a backlog of hundreds of functions to the journey program — however an additional step is being added to the applying course of.

The NEXUS program, which eases the stream of individuals throughout the Canada-U.S. border, stalled when workplaces on either side of the border have been closed due to the pandemic.

On Monday, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) introduced that workplaces in Fort Erie and Lansdowne, Ont. have reopened for applicant interviews — however candidates will now be required to finish a secondary interview on the U.S. facet of the border.

In the previous, Canadian and American border brokers collectively performed interviews in the identical room.

“We’re working hard to find creative solutions to reduce wait times, address the backlog and help more travellers get NEXUS cards,” Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino mentioned within the assertion. “This new, two-step process is further proof of our commitment to it.”

The backlog sits at effectively over 300,000 functions with a median processing time of 16 months.

Dispute over authorized protections

NEXUS centres within the U.S. reopened in April. But Canada did not observe go well with over issues about extending authorized protections to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers working on Canadian soil.

Washington has been calling for the extension of these authorized protections to its officers working at NEXUS centres — protections that those self same officers already take pleasure in at pre-clearance websites at Canada’s airports.

That dispute appears unresolved with this new two-step interview course of, as CBSA officers will conduct the interviews within the Canadian workplaces and their U.S. counterparts will full the secondary interviews on the U.S. facet.

Maryscott Greenwood, a Washington-based lobbyist and head of the Canadian American Business Council, welcomed the choice.

“It’s not a perfect solution. A perfect solution would be reopening Canadian facilities staffed by both [Canadian and American] officers,” Greenwood mentioned. “But since that appears not to be an option … this is the next best thing.”

A disproportionate quantity — 80 per cent — of the 1.7 million individuals who use this system are Canadian.

But final month, a bipartisan group of U.S. Congress members despatched a letter to their Canadian counterparts on the Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group asking for his or her assist in resolving the problem and reopening the Canadian workplaces.

One of the letter’s signatories, New York Rep. Brian Higgins, praised the reopening of the Canadian workplaces however instructed extra could possibly be finished to facilitate NEXUS functions.

“Border management has gotten more complicated than it has to be,” Higgins mentioned in a press release. “We need to find ways to break down the barriers at our border to better support the flow of people and goods between neighbours.”

Greenwood mentioned she needs the Canadian authorities could be extra “ambitious” and reopen extra workplaces with the two-step interview course of.

“It’s a welcome development but I think it needs to go further, faster,” she mentioned.

The CBSA assertion says extra NEXUS workplaces shall be reopening at land borders, however did not say when.