#borderstories

This is the front page of Canada’s National Post newspaper where the headline news is all about NAFTA -- the North America Free Trade Agreement. It’s a sign of how seriously our neighbor to the north is taking negotiations. These most recent round of talks ended on Tuesday with little accomplished and much worry about the future of the trade pact. President Trump has called NAFTA “the worst trade deal ever signed” but it is seen as vital to many communities in the United States, Mexico and Canada. 

This week we are in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada to look at NAFTA, oil pipelines and immigration. 

Join us -- Lulu Garcia-Navarro, host of Weekend Edition, and producers Ravenna Koenig and Ian Stewart -- as we report on our northern border on the issues that bind our two countries together but are also pushing them apart. 

James Ballew --  a fisherman from the Lummi Nation -- prepares his nets before heading out on the water. The Lummi are a Native American tribe whose reservation sits along the Salish Sea in Washington State. They share this waterway with Canada -- and the plans to expand the Trans Mountain Pipeline could mean that oil tanker traffic in the area would increase sevenfold. The Lummi have formed an alliance with First Nation communities inside Canada to oppose it. It’s the most recent sign of increased co-operation and activism among indigenous groups that are working to stop these kinds of projects. 

Jay Julius is a fisherman and elected council member for the Lummi Nation. He says, "A pipeline leak, an oil spill knows nothing about boundaries. It has no idea when it's entering or about to leave a reservation. It has no idea when it's about to cross the Canadian border... so when a spill happens up there, it's going to impact us severely."

- Lulu 

Mona Hassania is the manager of Settlement Orientation Services in B.C. -- a non-governmental organization that helps settle refugees. There has been a huge jump in asylum-seekers coming in from the United States. More than 15-thousand people have crossed into Canada illegally. Hassania says many are fleeing what they say is an unwelcoming climate in the United States. The influx has put a strain on many Canadian services and is an unintended consequence of Canada’s billing itself as a friendlier destination for those fleeing persecution in war-torn nations. 

- Lulu

Graham Trafford is the General Manager and part owner of Mott Electric in Burnaby, B.C. – they’re an electrical contracting company that does service work and construction. We spoke to Trafford about Mott Electric’s support for expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline in the province that would help get Alberta tar sands across the Pacific to expanding markets in Asia. His company hopes to get a contract for that project – which is a controversial one in B.C. and neighboring Washington State. But we also asked him about the part of the Canadian-US relationship that’s been taking up the most space in newspaper headlines these days: the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  Almost 80 percent of Canada’s exports go to the United States. “I guess with any trade agreement, if one party comes away and they’re really happy, then it’s not a good agreement… Right now I know there’s lots of people that aren’t very happy, and I’m not sure where it’s all going to end up. I think there’s a lot of posturing going on - on all sides.” Trafford thinks the trade agreement is valuable though, especially for resolving conflict between companies: “At the end of the day, if there’s a problem, how are you going to fix it? Are you going to have a messy divorce or you going to have an agreement that everybody can walk away… knowing that it’s going to be solved – maybe not to everyone’s satisfaction – but it’s going to be solved.”

Check out this terrific new book by Rudy Ruiz, an award-winning author who blends his Spanish & American heritage in novels.

THE BORDER BETWEEN USBy Rudy Ruiz Literary FictionPublisher: Blackstone PublishingPages: 256Publication Date: August 27, 2024 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** SYNOPSIS ** The Border Between Us is a poignant coming-of-age novel from one of the most exciting voices in fiction. Ramón López was born along the US–Mexico border but is determined to get out and embrace the American dream—and he’s not sure…