During our recent sojourn by the Salish Sea, the Olshans crossed the Canadian border at Blaine, Washington, on our way to Vancouver, British Columbia. For a border crossing, it’s a pretty tame affair, more like a glorified toll plaza than a military checkpoint. You don’t even need a passport to get into Canada, although you do need one to get back into the States.
The easygoing nature of our relations with our neighbor to the north is emphasized by the Peace Arch in Blaine, a towering white classical revival monument that dominates the median between the north and southbound lanes of Interstate 5.
As a monument, it’s not much to look at, a kind of empty formal doorway in the middle of a big lawn. It was built in 1921, a few years late for its intended purpose, which was to commemorate the centennial of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in 1814.
The Treaty of Ghent isn’t exactly foremost in your mind as you motor past the Peace Arch, wondering why the lane you chose is going so much slower than every other lane leading up to border control. It’s not until you get home from vacation, still bleary from the red-eye, that you find yourself wondering, “What’s the deal with the Canadian border? And what’s with that crazy arch?”
The deal with the Canadian border is that it’s the world longest — 5,525 miles long, to be exact — which includes maritime boundaries on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic coasts, as well as the Great Lakes.
It’s a good thing that we’re on friendly terms with Canada, since, of those 5,525 miles, only 32 or so have reached “an acceptable level of control,” according to a 2010 report by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agency (CBP).
By my calculation, that’s about .6% of “acceptable control,” which leaves a whopping 99.4% of our shared border ripe for enemy infiltration.
Of course, this begs the question: “Who cares? For God’s sake – it’s Canada!”
While it’s true that the vast majority of illegal crossings happen over the Mexican border – last year, there were 447,731 arrests along the southwest border, compared with a mere 7,431 along the Canadian border —there’s a growing worry at the CBP about terrorist infiltration from the north.
Let’s not forget that an Al Qaeda operative, the so-called “Millennium Bomber,” was apprehended in 1999 by alert U.S. Customs Inspectors in Port Angeles, Washington, who decided to inspect a suspicious vehicle on the ferry from Victoria, British Columbia.
It’s largely thanks to heightened homeland security that the tourist en route to Vancouver now idles in a long line of traffic, waiting to be photographed seven ways to Sunday and grilled by a border agent, and all in view of the Peace Arch, which celebrates U.S. and Canadian citizens as “children of the same mother” and “brethren living together in unity.”
Ironically, the Peace Arch made me wonder about the last time we were at war with Canada, the war that ended with the Treaty of Ghent. It was, of course, the War of 1812, during which the United States invaded both Lower and Upper Canada, which were still colonies of our enemy Great Britain. Ultimately, these attacks were repelled, and the map of North America wasn’t substantially altered.
The War of 1812, which might be called America’s first war of choice, since it was the first war we declared as a nation, had a fascinating impact on our early politics. After the U.S. declared victory in 1814, the Federalist party, which had vociferously opposed the war, collapsed. In 1816, James Monroe, representing the Democratic-Republican Party, was elected president in a landslide. There followed nearly eight years of calm in Washington. The bitter political atmosphere abated. President Monroe actively discouraged partisanship. There was a new feeling of pride and purpose in the country, which turned its attention to important domestic matters, like the acquisition of Florida from Spain. The rancorous debates over protective tariffs and the national bank receded into the background.
Historians call this happy time “the Era of Good Feelings.”
The Canadians were happy, too, proud of the fact that they’d repelled the obnoxious republican invaders from the south.
Everyone was happy. Washington was a cordial city. Politicians worked together solving the nation’s problems, large and small.
Sound good? If all it takes is a little invasion of Canada, I say let’s hop in our cars and head north. The Canadians won’t mind. They’re a pretty friendly bunch. They’ll send us home with boxes of maple syrup candy.
Both sides will declare victory. Someone will build a peace arch.
Then we’ll all sit back and wait for the new Era of Good Feelings to begin.
This column was published in the Perry Co Times on 25 August 2011
For more information, please contact Mr. Olshan at writing@matthewolshan.com
