It a commonplace in Canada to say that we are a trading nation. Yet I doubt that the majority of Canadians have experienced that reality first hand. Last week, a group of Ivey undergrads travelled to Sarnia’s Blue Water Bridge to take the pulse of the trade artery that accounts for a full 20 percent of Canada’s land-based crossings.
The first thing that strikes you is the seemingly endless stream of tractor trailers rolling over the bridge. Every one with a cargo headed for somewhere, driven by a driver with his or her own particular story. The Canadian Border Services Agency has the job of speeding the passage of lawful commerce and, at the same time, picking the needles from the haystack — the criminals that bring drugs or weapons or even human beings across the border illegally.
The officers employ the latest technology. They can x-ray a truck down to its nuts and bolts. But they also employ intelligence gathering, psychology and intuition to decide who will pass and who warrants further inspection. They are constantly juggling and redeploying their resources to meet changes in traffic and risk assessments. All with the goal of expediting trade and interdicting criminals and contraband. It is, fundamentally, a fascinating management problem on the scale of scheduling in a large manufacturing facility.
Students learned about how Canadian and US governments have adapted to the post-9/11 world with the Beyond the Border Action Plan and saw how it was being implemented on the ground in Sarnia. They talked with the front line officers on whose judgements we rely.
Having taken the pulse at the Blue Water Bridge, students left with a new appreciation of what it means to be a trading nation and the public servants that keep the border open for trade and closed for crime.
by Paul Boothe