B.C. port flagged for federal fast track, but security concerns have lasted years

George Harvie, mayor of Delta, B.C., has been sounding the alarm over security and crime at the province’s port facilities for years, and he has plenty of questions as the federal government pushes a massive port expansion project in his city.

The Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion project was referred to the major projects office last week for potential fast-tracking, in a bid to enable $100 billion in new trade capacity annually.

The proposed new three-berth terminal would increase the port’s container capacity by 50 per cent, potentially contributing $3 billion to Canada’s GDP each year.

But Harvie, who was not present at last week’s announcement at the port due to a scheduling conflict, is looking beyond those numbers.

“We still have not had an upgrade to the security systems that exist in comparable to other ports in Europe,” said Harvie.

“There’s still a question that is out there, and I’m still asking it, is how are they going to ensure that the port would be more secure from illicit drugs coming into our country and manufactured in our country then (shipped) out of our country? How are they going to ensure that this is going to be looked after?”

Canada’s dedicated port police were disbanded in 1997 — port security and monitoring duties are now divided between the RCMP, local forces, the Canada Border Services Agency and private security workers — but Harvie said bringing back a dedicated force isn’t the answer.

Instead, he said there was a need to integrate security technology into port infrastructure, pointing to places including Europe that have “rolling scanners” allowing trucks to be scrutinized without gumming up traffic.

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Harvie raised concerns about shipments of illegal drugs originating from Canadian ports destined for places like Australia, where he said the disparity in security was known.

“I went to Australia to talk to the port police people there, and they’re just shaking their heads insofar as why isn’t there more of a robust security program in the Port of Vancouver,” Harvie said in an interview last Friday, the day after the announcement.

“I just cannot understand why this government and previous governments have just ignored their responsibility to ensure that illicit drugs aren’t coming in.”

The proposed expansion would see Roberts Bank’s volume increase by more than 2 million containers each year, bolstering trade with international partners as the Carney government seeks to move Canada away from historical dependence on trade with the United States.

Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon was in Delta last week to announce the major-projects referral. He told reporters the expansion and port security were “separate issues,” but the federal government “spends an enormous amount of time making sure we keep up with the evolving security issues that present themselves.”

“We have one of the world’s best police forces. They’re in charge of port security,” he said, in an apparent reference to the RCMP.

“They work with their partners, they work with the province, they work municipal authorities and work across the federal government,” he said. “We’ll keep working on the challenge. I think that’s what the mayor would like us to do.”

In 2023, the City of Delta commissioned a report about port policing from Peter German, a lawyer and former deputy commissioner of the RCMP.

The report said the proposed expansion of the Roberts Bank facility had “renewed concern by political leaders at both the provincial and municipal levels over the state of port policing.”

German said in an interview on Monday that the concerns outlined in the report had not changed.

“I recall that the province of British Columbia said it was supportive of dealing with this issue, but they saw it principally as a matter for the federal government,” he said. “I am not aware of any response by the federal government at that time to our report.”

He said the main concerns were about contraband coming in and going out, a lack of police presence at the ports and the small number of port employees who require security clearances.

“So the various issues that we highlighted, I suspect they are still there,” he said.

He said other ports around the world have adopted more automation, and while goods at ports of entry are the responsibility of the Canada Border Services Agency, the “CBSA is not a police force.”

“Right now, we have no police officers working within the ports, none.”

German said he likened the port expansion and associated security issues with the recently concluded FIFA World Cup.

“It’s the game that’s all important, it’s the experience of FIFA, but you have to have a secure games, so it’s the same thing with the ports,” he said. “Expand, that’s fine, but don’t forget security is important.”

“I would simply say, don’t allow issues such as security to be forgotten.”