Border officers need more help from the federal government as they find themselves on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19, the head of Customs and Immigration Union said Tuesday. “We need more support,” Jean-Pierre Fortin, the union’s national president, said after raising concerns about the urgency at the borders with Public Safety Minister Bill Blair’s office.
Among the union’s concerns are that only two or three Health Canada officers are assigned to border locations — not enough to assist officers tasked with interacting with travelers, said Fortin. “It’s not sufficient in light of what’s going on,” he said.