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Canadian Ambassador Discusses Warning About U.S. Travel
Aired October 31, 2002 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk more about that travel advisory with the Canadian ambassador to the United States, Michael Kergan. He joins us now from Washington.
Thank you, ambassador, very much for being with us.
MICHAEL KERGAN, CANADIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Not at all. Good afternoon.
SAVIDGE: So what is the premise behind this warning to Canadian citizens?
Essentially, there's been a change, as you know, in U.S. regulations which said that people being born in those countries will be photographed, fingerprinted, possibly subject to lengthy questioning and so on. And our advisory to our citizens essentially is the regulations have changed in the United States. Citizens who happen to be born in those countries could be subject to these sorts of new procedures, and therefore, we feel it's our obligation just to alert them to this. And as the bulletin says, to consider carefully before they go to the United States. They may be subject to this sort of thing.
SAVIDGE: Was there a specific incident that triggered this warning?
KERGAN: Not at all. It's the change of regulation that really took place about three or four weeks ago. There was an incident about three or four weeks ago, I guess, where there was a Canadian citizen who happened to be born in Syria, was in transit through the United States coming back from Europe. He was pulled out of the line and was questioned and then was deported out to Syria. He was carrying legitimate Canadian travel documents. And rather than being sent to Canada, he was sent to the country of his birth. This obviously caused quite a controversy in Canada, and caused us some concern. But essentially, the change of regulation that has allowed us to go forward with this bulletin.
SAVIDGE: You can see how there are some Americans who might look at this and say, wait a minute, it's branding the United States as the bad guy, when in fact the U.S. is trying to keep the bad people out.
KERGAN: I hope they wouldn't do that, because again, we want to be sure our citizens are aware of changes in regulations. But Canada and the United States, I know they're two countries who cooperate more closely on the war against terrorism. We've made some tremendous progress on the border in terms of tightening security procedures at both sides of the border. Canada has put in a very large budgetary allocation: about $7 billion to build up security around the border, more immigration guards, customs people, information technology, so forth. And the cooperation between our enforcement services, intelligence, and police is extremely close. So I think we are working very well together on the border.
But this measure was really an alert or advisory to our people who happen to be in these circumstances.
SAVIDGE: I'll point out I was with Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan as they went into combat right beside U.S. forces.
But that being said, there was a case where an Algerian man did come across the border just before the year 2000 near Seattle.
KERGAN: That's correct. To a certain extent, that worked because he was apprehended. He was -- the tip-off came from a Canadian who then tipped off U.S. Customs on the other side of the border, in Seattle. And he was apprehended. So as a result of that, we've seen tightened up our security procedures even more.
So I would say that 9/11 was almost an indication of how strong our border really is, because in fact none of the terrorists who perpetrated their terrible deeds did come through Canada. And so far, we have cooperated very closely in keeping a close eye on terror cells on both sides of the country that can probably threaten either country.
SAVIDGE: Let's hope the success continues.
Ambassador Kergan, thank you very much for joining us.
KERGAN: Very good of you to have me. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 31, 2002 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk more about that travel advisory with the Canadian ambassador to the United States, Michael Kergan. He joins us now from Washington.
Thank you, ambassador, very much for being with us.
MICHAEL KERGAN, CANADIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Not at all. Good afternoon.
SAVIDGE: So what is the premise behind this warning to Canadian citizens?
Essentially, there's been a change, as you know, in U.S. regulations which said that people being born in those countries will be photographed, fingerprinted, possibly subject to lengthy questioning and so on. And our advisory to our citizens essentially is the regulations have changed in the United States. Citizens who happen to be born in those countries could be subject to these sorts of new procedures, and therefore, we feel it's our obligation just to alert them to this. And as the bulletin says, to consider carefully before they go to the United States. They may be subject to this sort of thing.
SAVIDGE: Was there a specific incident that triggered this warning?
KERGAN: Not at all. It's the change of regulation that really took place about three or four weeks ago. There was an incident about three or four weeks ago, I guess, where there was a Canadian citizen who happened to be born in Syria, was in transit through the United States coming back from Europe. He was pulled out of the line and was questioned and then was deported out to Syria. He was carrying legitimate Canadian travel documents. And rather than being sent to Canada, he was sent to the country of his birth. This obviously caused quite a controversy in Canada, and caused us some concern. But essentially, the change of regulation that has allowed us to go forward with this bulletin.
SAVIDGE: You can see how there are some Americans who might look at this and say, wait a minute, it's branding the United States as the bad guy, when in fact the U.S. is trying to keep the bad people out.
KERGAN: I hope they wouldn't do that, because again, we want to be sure our citizens are aware of changes in regulations. But Canada and the United States, I know they're two countries who cooperate more closely on the war against terrorism. We've made some tremendous progress on the border in terms of tightening security procedures at both sides of the border. Canada has put in a very large budgetary allocation: about $7 billion to build up security around the border, more immigration guards, customs people, information technology, so forth. And the cooperation between our enforcement services, intelligence, and police is extremely close. So I think we are working very well together on the border.
But this measure was really an alert or advisory to our people who happen to be in these circumstances.
SAVIDGE: I'll point out I was with Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan as they went into combat right beside U.S. forces.
But that being said, there was a case where an Algerian man did come across the border just before the year 2000 near Seattle.
KERGAN: That's correct. To a certain extent, that worked because he was apprehended. He was -- the tip-off came from a Canadian who then tipped off U.S. Customs on the other side of the border, in Seattle. And he was apprehended. So as a result of that, we've seen tightened up our security procedures even more.
So I would say that 9/11 was almost an indication of how strong our border really is, because in fact none of the terrorists who perpetrated their terrible deeds did come through Canada. And so far, we have cooperated very closely in keeping a close eye on terror cells on both sides of the country that can probably threaten either country.
SAVIDGE: Let's hope the success continues.
Ambassador Kergan, thank you very much for joining us.
KERGAN: Very good of you to have me. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
