New Brunswick Public Health says St. Stephen’s close proximity to the Canada-U.S. border may be a factor as the community grapples with a surge in overdose calls.
Dr. Kimberley Barker, regional medical officer of health, made those comments while presenting to the municipal council last week.
“I really feel as though you are in a unique position because you’re right on a border, a U.S. border, that we feel may be responsible for bringing some of those substances,” said Barker.
Barker did not identify evidence linking the recent poisonings to drugs coming across the border into Canada. New Brunswick’s Department of Health did confirm that the recent surge was due to toxic drug poisonings, but has yet to identify the substances responsible.
“Trying to work with you is really important so that we can then achieve lessons learned for communities like Woodstock and so on and so forth,” Barker said of working with the municipality on how to ensure other border communities can learn from what has been done in St. Stephen.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said it takes its responsibility for border protection seriously.
“As the first line of defence to stop illegal drugs and precursor chemicals from entering Canada, the CBSA stays current on global trends and patterns to ensure that its frontline border services officers are well equipped to identify and prevent illegal substances from entering and exiting Canada,” the federal agency said in a statement.
The CBSA said border agents are highly trained to analyze risk and intercept illegal goods from entering or leaving the country.
Its statement did not address whether illegal substances had crossed the border into St. Stephen or whether any seized substances had undergone testing.
“In Canada, border security and integrity is a shared mandate between the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP),” the statement said. “The CBSA is responsible for enforcing the law at designated ports of entry and the RCMP is responsible for enforcing Canadian legislation between ports of entry.”
CBSA directed questions about monitoring areas between ports of entry along the international border to the RCMP.
The St. Stephen RCMP said officers are actively investigating potential criminal activity linked to the overdoses.
“While overdose calls are medical emergencies and do not necessarily involve criminal activity, police are examining whether any criminal elements may be linked to these incidents,” RCMP said in a statement on Oct. 20.
CBSA said that fighting organized crime requires a multijurisdictional approach.
“It would be unrealistic to think that any one agency, or even one country, could completely thwart their efforts,” it said. “This is why the CBSA works in lockstep with domestic and international law enforcement partners in a joint effort to ensure border security, including other government departments, intelligence, and law enforcement.”
If CBSA suspects that a person or shipment may be transporting contraband in or out of Canada, officers conduct an examination to determine whether suspicion is found, said the agency’s statement.
“In the case of commercial shipments, these examinations often start as non-intrusive, using X-ray and gamma-ray machines, but may progress to the point of manually searching the entire contents of the container,” the statement said.
The CBSA notifies local law enforcement if items, including fentanyl, are seized under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act.
“Police are responsible for taking control of seized drugs, conducting any follow-up investigation that may be warranted, and deciding whether to pursue criminal prosecution,” the statement said.
