International Boundary History Security Remaining Boundary

Officially known as the International Boundary, the present border originated with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which ended the war between Great Britain and the separating colonies which would form the United States. The Jay Treaty of 1794 created the International Boundary Commission, which was charged with surveying and mapping the boundary. Disputes over the interpretation of boundary demarcation led to the Aroostook War and the ensuing Webster–Ashburton Treaty in 1842 which better defined the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick and the Province of Canada. Westward expansion of both British North America and the United States saw the boundary extended west from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains under the Convention of 1818. U.S. President James Knox Polk's expansionist desiresThe phrase Fifty-Four Forty or Fight was a campaign slogan of United States president-to-be James K. In the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, the Americans and the British chose a joint sovereignty of what is now the Pacific Northwest of the United State for the northern boundary of the U.S. to be 54°40′ northLatitude denoted φ, gives the location of a place on Earth north or south of the Equator. Latitude is an angular measurement ranging from 0° at the Equator to 90° at the poles. Usually, the difference in latitude largely affects the climate and/or wea (related to the southern boundary of RussiaThe Russian Federation ( Russian: , transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija , or Russia (Russian: , transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija , is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of eastern Europe and northern Asia. With's AlaskaOn January 3, 1959, Alaska was admitted to the United States as the 49th state. The population of the state is 626,932, as of 2000. The name "Alaska" is most likely derived from the Aleut word for "great country" or "mainland. The natives called it "Alyes Territory), and Great Britain's claim that the border should follow the Columbia RiverColumbia River Gorge, Washington or North side The Columbia River is the largest river in volume flowing into the Pacific Ocean from North America. Its headwaters are located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, and it flows through the east-centr to the Pacific OceanFor other meanings of pacific see pacific (disambiguation). The Pacific Ocean (from the Spanish Pacifico meaning peaceful is the world's largest body of water. It encompasses a third of the Earth's surface, having an area of 179. 7 million km² (69. 4 mill, led to the Oregon Treaty in 1846, which established the 49th parallel as the boundary through the Rockies. In 1903 a joint Great Britain–Canada–U.S. tribunal established the boundary with Alaska. In 1925 the International Boundary Commission was made a permanent organization responsible for surveying and mapping the boundary, maintaining boundary monuments (and buoys where applicable), as well as keeping the boundary clear of brush and vegetation for 6 metres (20 feet) on each side of the line.

2 Security

Commonly referred to as the world's longest undefended border, the International Boundary is actually defended, but by law enforcement and not military personnel. The relative low level of security measures stands in stark contrast to that of the Mexico-U.S. border (1/3 as long as the Canada-U.S. border), which is actively patrolled by U.S. customs and immigration personnel to prevent Mexican citizens from illegally entering the United States.

It should be noted that since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, border security along the International Boundary has been dramatically (and often covertly) improved by both nations in both populated and rural areas alike. Both nations are also actively involved in detailed and extensive tactical and strategic intelligence sharing. These arrangements are reportedly some of the best examples of international law-enforcement cooperation in the world.

American and Canadian citizens owning property adjacent to the border are required to report construction of any physical border crossing on their land to their respective governments, and this is enforced by the International Boundary Commission. Where required, fences or vehicle blockades are used. All persons crossing the border are required to report to the respective customs and immigration agencies in each country. In remote areas where staffed border crossings are not available, there are hidden sensors on roads and also scattered in wooded areas near crossing points and on many trails and railways, but there are not enough border personnel on either side to verify and stop coordinated incursions.

Parts of the International Boundary cross through mountainous terrain or heavily forested areas, but significant portions also cross remote prairie farmland and the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River, in addition to the maritime components of the boundary at the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic oceans. The actual number of U.S. and Canadian border security personnel is not known but estimated to be less than 1,000 in total, largely clustered near major crossing points. In comparison, there are in excess of 7,000 U.S. border security personnel on the Mexico-U.S. border alone.

In past years Canadian officials have complained of cigarette and firearms smuggling from the United States while U.S. officials have complained of drug smuggling from Canada. Human smuggling into both countries, but primarily from Canada into the U.S., has been an ongoing problem for border security and law enforcement personnel.

3 Remaining Boundary Disputes

Machias Seal Island ( Maine/ New Brunswick)
Strait of Juan de Fuca ( Washington/ British Columbia)
Dixon Entrance ( Alaska/ British Columbia)
Beaufort Sea ( Alaska/ Yukon)

4 'Other' Border Crossings (Airports, Seaports)

The U.S. maintains immigration officials in certain major Canadian airports (called "pre-clearance facilities") to expedite airline travel by allowing flights from those airports to land in a U.S. airport without having to be processed as international arrivals. Similar arrangements exist at major Canadian seaports which handle sealed direct import shipments into the United States. Canada also maintains equivalent personnel at selected U.S. airports and seaports.

Several ocean-based ferry services operate between the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to the state of Maine, as well as between the province of British Columbia and the state of Washington. There are also several ferry services in the Great Lakes operating between the province of Ontario and the states of Michigan, New York, and Ohio.

5 External links

International Boundary Commission

Canada and the United States

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