De Plane, de plane! Fantastic Fun at the Manitoba Border

Our neighbourly neighbours to the south have decided that the wild frontier of Manitoba is just not safe enough and have begun to use unmanned drone airplanes for surveillance along the Manitoba – Minnesota / North Dakota border.

This is a similar operation as along the U.S. – Mexico border and began last Monday.

Here is the Article: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2009/02/16/drones-border.html

Based at a military facility in Grand Forks, North Dakota, the $10-million Predator B drone aircraft are equipped with sensors capable of detecting a moving person from 10 kilometers away.

The aircraft is able to fly at an altitude of 6,000 meters and can remain in the air for 18 hours.
The planes will gather information as they fly along the 400-kilometre border and transmit it to operators who will in turn contact border agents. The drones will not carry weapons, such as missiles or laser-guided bombs, and the U.S. will need permission to send them into in Canadian airspace.

Manitoba has 12 official border crossings — only two are open 24 hours a day. Much of the land in between the crossings is swampland, lakes or farmers' fields.
U.S. authorities are concerned that the border has areas that could potentially be exploited by drug smugglers, migrants and terrorists.

"They will try to find the weakest link, and the weakest link is clearly the long border between the U.S. and Canada," North Dakota Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan said. "It's very hard to patrol every square mile."

RCMP Staff Sgt. Ron Obodzinski said the surveillance planes will be a big help in the fight against the smuggling of drugs, alcohol and people.

"The program is going to enhance our relationship between our American partners and the Canadian agencies," he said.

U.S. border protection official Michael Kostelnik said that in these "dangerous times," it's more important than ever for both countries to know who and what is crossing the border.

"There are vast parts of the border where, on any given day, we're not sure what's going on, so part of this is to try to deal with the unknown and not be surprised," Kostelnik said.

Similar drones patrol the skies in Iraq and Afghanistan. The aircraft are also used along parts of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Is this what we need along the U.S. – Canada border?

While I can understand the need for surveillance and security, at what point does Canada step in and take responsibility? If this becomes a complete U.S. operation, then what say will the RCMP have in the management of the border? Currently, the drones do not fly in Canadian air space, though what would Canada do if the U.S. decides to test the limits? Is Canada in a position to take action if something like this should happen? Would the RCMP even care?

It is clear that there is a problem, but at what point will Canada become a functioning part of this relationship and not stand by and nod their head in approval? Would we want spy planes patrolling the Detroit/Windsor border? The launching of this program raises an incredible amount of questions.

Thoughts?