Customs dispute keeps bridge up

CORNWALL — “Cornwall’s bridge is coming down.” That’s what a realty sign at the Canadian foot of the international bridge here gleefully announces to drivers crawling high over the St. Lawrence River into Canada.

Musical notes accompanying the words on the sign suggest the announcement is to be sung to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down.

The federal government has indeed announced the battered, 50-year-old structure linking the mainland to Akwesasne territory on Cornwall Island will be replaced by a causeway at an estimated cost of $75 million.

The existing sky-high north span of the Seaway International Bridge was built in anticipation of Great Lakes freighters passing under it. Freighters have always used the channel on the south side of the island making the bridge obsolete almost from the day it opened.

The money is in place and the environmental study and design for the new low-level span are complete, Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry MP Guy Lauzon confirmed. The Mohawk of Akwesasne have even been lined up to do much of the dismantling of the existing bridge.

What’s holding the project up now is the year-old controversy over long-term placement of the port of entry from the U.S. into Canada.

“Depending on location of the Canadian border crossing check-point, the bridge design may have to be altered,” Lauzon explained.

When the port of entry is finalized and the causeway comes in, Lauzon expects a major improvement over conditions in place since the Mohawk pushed back last June against the prospect of armed customs officers operating on their land.

Mohawk leaders felt that altercations between band members and crossing officers could become lethal if those officers were carrying handguns.

Repeated confrontations with First Nations over the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) policy to arm its front-line staff led to the well-equipped customs building on the island being boarded up and abandoned.

It’s been replaced by a cramped, makeshift three-station crossing in Cornwall on Brookdale Ave. where it meets the bridge.

These days, a traveller coming into Canada at Cornwall can get stuck on the north span for an hour waiting to clear customs. That was the case for many motorists on holiday Monday after a long weekend spent in the U.S.

To be fair, Lauzon noted, traffic can back up at any border crossing on a holiday. The MP gives Cornwall council credit for assisting the CBSA in improvising a new checkpoint — which is better than none at all — after the bridge closed during last year’s hostilities with the Mohawk.

Meanwhile, it’s business as usual at the expanded U.S. port of entry when heading across the south span into New York State. There, customs guards — who aren’t located on Native land — have been armed for years without repercussion.

What started out as a “temporary” border crossing measure on Brookdale Ave. and has graduated to an “interim” arrangement will be hosted by Cornwall for some time to come.

Council has been told by the CBSA there’ll be a recommended solution in August to the border squeeze which has impacted negatively on some Cornwall businesses. Others, Lauzon emphasized, have gained from the reluctance of local residents to go through the border hassle to cross-border shop.

Permanent options being considered by the agency are: Returning to the facility on Cornwall Island, something the union representing customs officers has decreed will never happen; remaining in Cornwall under a leasing agreement with the city; relocating to the U.S. side of the border; and closing the crossing permanently, a possibility which Cornwall Mayor Bob Kilger will fight “tooth and nail” to prevent.

Lauzon is among those who favour relocation to a U.S. site close to the American customs building. Along with Kilger, he has discussed the possibility with N.Y. Congressman Bill Owens and Massena, N.Y., town supervisor Joseph Gray.

With a Canadian port on the American side, the MP pointed out, traffic could travel between the island and Cornwall without passing through customs.