Accountability

"There's no opposition to wanting to make the Cornwall border crossing more effective and efficient, because it certainly is not right now.  What there is opposition to is how the proposed move will increase contraband tobacco.
"If they have freer access to transporting the product from the island onto the mainland, it's going to mean more activity for those criminal organizations in our local communities.
"We're asking for that police force to be finally put in place ... and a level of co-operation between federal, provincial, First Nations and U.S. governments to talk about the issue, perhaps within the framework of existing parliamentary standing committees.
"We've been trying to keep this issue front line and centre as far as awareness.  We don't want this issue to become normalized.  When we go into meetings with government, the common (refrain) is, 'Not us, go talk to them (another department) over there'.  
"It's so complex that I think everyone has just assumed it can never be solved and we'll just put our heads in the sand and pretend it's not there."
Alex Scholten, president of the Canadian Convenience Stores Association

Mr. Scholten and his colleagues are concerned about the illegal tobacco trade.  They're concerned about governments not having made more of an effort to stem the tide of the illegal trade.  They'd like more leadership commitment to solving the issue.  It is a criminal one, after all, impacting both Canada and the United States.  Not only are governments losing money big time, but cheaper smokes entice young people to begin smoking.

The criminal smuggling of untaxed tobacco is estimated to cost the federal, Quebec and Ontario governments alone roughly $1.6-billion in unpaid tobacco taxes annually.  And the federal government's recently-announced plan to move the Canadian border station at Cornwall onto American soil to consolidate their joint operations is troubling to Mr. Scholten's association.

Akwesasne's cigarette smugglers, organized mobsters and their uninterrupted illegal activities are of huge concern to the convenience store operators for the simple reason that it is illegal, and the tobacco products are sold at a hugely discounted rate, undercutting by a wide margin what legitimate purveyors like convenience store operators sell the product for.  And there is the crux of their problem. 

In 2009, when tobacco smuggling reached its apex, about 9% of the association's 23,000 members went out of business because of their inability to compete with the sale of far less expensive contraband.  Legal cigarette sales represent about half of a convenience store's typical sales. "It doesn't take a lot to reach a tipping point", pointed out Mr. Scholten.

And the criminal activity doesn't begin and stop with the illegal smuggling of tobacco.  It also includes hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and weapons - all of which are shipped through the same channels.  It's estimated that roughly 175 organized crime groups are involved, according to RCMP records.

The border zone involved, called Smugglers Alley, includes seven distinct governments; two federal, two provincial, one state and two aboriginal.  Inclusive of their respective agencies for policing, customs, immigration, taxation.  Complex, yes it most certainly is, and most compelling issue on a number of fronts it most certainly is.

It hasn't been too much of a challenge for organized big crime to overcome, from the Hells Angels to the Russian mafia, and everything in between.  The proposed move of the Canada border station is part of the Canada-U.S. Beyond the Border agreement.  And its critics fear that the move will simply make the transfer of illegal goods easier to achieve, harder to restrain, benefit crime and punish legal outlets even further.

The interception of truckloads of raw and fine-cut tobacco en route to clandestine cigarette manufacturing plants on the U.S. portion of Cornwall Island where the St.Regis Mohawk reserve is located, as well as Canada's Akwesasne Mohawk community is anticipated to become more fraught with difficulty.  Finished cigarettes are smuggled by road or bypass customs by boat along the St.Lawrence.

They're also freely sold tax-free as smoking deals, at smoke shacks along the highway through Akwesasne, St.Regis and Kahnawake Mohawk reserve on Montreal's south shore.  Moving the CBSA post to Massena, New York, as planned under the new U.S.-Canada agreement will make it simpler to evade lawful entry; as well raw tobacco Canadian-grown readily shipped to the island for processing then back finished, across the undefended bridge.

The promise to fight contraband with a new commitment, inclusive of mandatory jail time for repeat offenders and a new RCMP anti-contraband force of 50 committed officers has never materialized.  Governments at every level on both sides of the border are leery of facing off against aboriginal communities who boast of being a nation unto themselves and gloat about operating under the own laws.

And, according to Michael Ahrihron Deslisle Jr., Grand Chief, Mohawk Council of Kahnawa:ke, "It is easy to blame native people for mismanagement, but many native communities are acting responsibly.  Our community, Kahnawa:ke, is held to a high standard and is always accountable for every penny it spends - and we will continue to act in the transparent manner that is rightly demanded of us...". 

Protesting the federal government's First Nations Financial Transparency Act requiring full disclosure of First Nations reserve management.