Canada to provide St. Maarten
with border security training
PHILIPSBURG--The Government of Canada will provide Integrated Border Enforcement Training to law enforcement officers of both St. Maarten and St. Martin, among other Caribbean states and territories, later this year.
The training sessions will be provided through a partnership between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA),
The other 13 Caribbean states and territories included on the list to benefit from the upcoming training exercise are Anguilla, Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Haiti, Martinique, Montserrat, Suriname, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Canadian High Commission Political and Economic Relations and Public Affairs Counsellor Douglas Holland explained in a press statement Monday that some 350 front-line officers and 50 trainers would be taught border control procedures during the upcoming training exercise.
Holland explained that the training was a follow-up to Canada’s successful provision of Integrated Border Enforcement Training to the nine co-host countries of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.
According to the release, “Integrated Border Enforcement Training is designed to enhance integration and information-sharing among enforcement agencies and provide a train-the-trainer module to ensure long-term sustainability."
A segment of the instruction will be carried out by 12 Caribbean experts who received training during the first phase of the project.
The release stated, “Canada’s Integrated Border Enforcement Training was founded on the principles of the North American Integrated Border Enforcement Teams and engages joint task forces across law enforcement agencies to work towards more intelligence-led policing. Funding for the project is being provided by the Counter-Terrorism Capacity Building Programme within the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT).”
Holland noted that as Canadian Prime Minister Harper had explained during his visit to the region in July, Canada was advancing an Americas Strategy based on the promotion and advancement of security, democratic governance and economic prosperity.”
He said, “Programmes such as the Integrated Border Enforcement Training are an important step forward in strengthening regional security and reinforcing cooperation among regional law enforcement agencies.”
