The prolonged delay in getting the NEXUS program back on track post-pandemic has taken a bitter and public turn for the worse in U.S / Canada relations.
The program, relied upon by frequent travellers between the U.S. and Canada, fast-tracks pre-screened travellers to cross the border.
For months, Open Jaw has been reporting that the U.S. has delayed re-opening NEXUS offices in Canada, despite the return of travel. Backlogs in processing new and renewed applications to the program are piling up - to the tune of hundreds of thousands of travellers’ applications.
As Open Jaw reported, at the beginning of AUG, there were already over 300,000 NEXUS applicants waiting for a mandatory interview as part of the application process. Last month, conditionally approved NEXUS trusted traveller members who re-applied for membership before their card’s expiry date were apparently given a five-year grace period to complete their interview and receive a new card.
That doesn’t help new applicants.
Stakeholders on both sides of the border have been pressing the U.S. government to get the NEXUS program running at full speed again to facilitate the restart of leisure and commercial travel across the border.
Last week, as CTVNews reported, the Business Council of Canada’s CEO sent a letter to the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, calling the prolonged closure of America’s 13 NEXUS offices in Canada “deeply troubling.”
High-Level Dressing Down
It’s gotten to the point that Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S. spoke out in front of a high-profile audience “Future Borders Coalition” conference at the Canadian Embassy in Washington - that included “numerous government and industry officials,” including the U.S. Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.
"I'm going to be super undiplomatic and blunt here because I think this is important for friends sometimes," said Kirsten Hillman.
"The [NEXUS] program is being held hostage.… It's disappointing and it's frustrating for us."
Why the U.S. is Dragging its Feet
According to CBC, the U.S. NEXUS office re-openings are being delayed while that country “presses for changes to the program.”
The United States apparently wants its NEXUS office employees “to have immunity from prosecution in Canada, like diplomats, and like customs agents,” already have.
Until it gets those changes, the U.S. is declining to staff NEXUS offices. And it’s putting the blame on Canada. A U.S. Embassy spokesperson in Ottawa told CBC late last week that the U.S. has “repeatedly informed Canada for several years that this (immunity requirement) was a priority.” Without results.
Now that travel has resumed, it’s digging in its heels.
"The United States stands ready to reopen NEXUS centres in Canada once Canada addresses these concerns," the American embassy spokesperson added.
