ST-ARMAND, QUE.—Morses Line is one of those places where the Canada-U.S. border is truly just an artificial stop on a country road.

In the late 1800s, it was a literal line established by a distant government that was crossed by villagers from the province of Quebec and the state of Vermont going about their business, which was mainly farming.

It has developed, but remains today as one of the smallest, most remote of the 117 crossing points along the 5,000-kilometre Canada-U.S. land border— one where populations on both sides share names, blood and a French mother tongue.

But after surviving threats of closure in Washington and absorbing budget cuts ordered by Ottawa, Morses Line has become ground zero for what could be the future of border management.

Where there was once a bucolic, white building welcoming people to Canadian soil and a century house next door that the head agent called home, now there is a state-of-the-art security structure loaded with cameras and defended by a guard located 700 kilometres away in Hamilton.

The Remote Traveller Processing program — a one-year pilot project — has been underway since February but the Canada Border Services Agency already has plans for similar operations at 19 other points-of-entry across the country if the program is deemed a success.

It works much like a high-tech drive-thru. Those seeking to enter Canada at Morses Line enter into a closed garage and park next to a kiosk that allows them to communicate with a border agent, show their passport and even pay duties on alcohol, tobacco or other goods with the swipe of a credit card.

“Are we letting our guard down?” said CBSA spokesperson Dominique McNeely. “The building was designed with enhanced security in mind. There are additional gates, there are many cameras and, compared to other border crossings nearby, there’s much more technology here to secure the border.”

That includes impact-resistant gates, a garage door that doesn’t open unless the border agent is satisfied there is no risk, and plenty of powerful cameras.

“We can see small writing on documents and we can actually zoom in very close and detect any type of signs,” McNeely said. “It’s like your classic interview at the border but it’s done remotely.”

If the agent has doubts, a traveller will be directed to the nearest staffed border crossing, which is 13 kilometres away. If there is something more nefarious, nearby agents are dispatched to conduct a more thorough search.

The potential national program is being tested at Morses Line for very local reasons.

In 2011, the United States Department of Homeland Security proposed the closure of its border post, which was built in 1934, processed about 40 vehicles each day and would cost $5.5 million (U.S.) to modernize.

Around the same time in Ottawa, the cash-strapped Conservative government decided to cut daily operating hours to between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

On both sides of the boundary, citizens, local politicians and businesses warned about the potential ramifications.

It would split up families and friends, impede first responders who regularly dash across the border to help out with emergencies and imperil the local economy, Saint-Armand Mayor Réal Pelletier told a parliamentary committee in November 2010.

“On our side of the border, there is farming activity. A number of growers on the other side of the border buy a lot of feed from us. Here, I’m referring to hay, grain, silage, and so on. The traffic going through our small border crossing is not identified as commercial traffic, but it occurs on a daily basis and it is very significant,” he said.

The Morses Line crossing was due for a renovation. The work was extensive and involved demolishing the old structure, digging out a new basement facility for the imposing new superstructure and paving a nearby field for parking and vehicle traffic.

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The project was also in line with joint Canada-U.S. border infrastructure plans. An April 2013 document on the subject speaks about equipping such stations with radiation detectors and limiting remote inspection to one side of the border to make sure there are “officers present on the other side, should an incident occur.”

Not all of the neighbours are happy with the outcome so far. Others say they appreciate the benefits of continued round-the-clock access to the U.S., whether it is for sailing on Lake Champlain or shopping in the outlet malls of Burlington and Vermont.

John Weideman, who has lived next to the Morses Line border for more than a quarter century and rents part of his backyard from the CBSA, remembers a time when his children used to play in the fields that make up the no man’s land between Canada and the U.S.

Tighter security has become a fact of life in the 15 years since the 9/11 terror attacks. He has also accepted the most recent border buildup. Other than the hum and clang of a motorized fence opening for U.S.-bound travellers, he said, “it’s basically fine. It’s not a big deal.”

He’s not overly worried about security either, insisting that he lives in one of the safest houses in the country.

“You can leave and not worry about anything,” he said.

The changes are a bigger problem for Canadian border agents, who could find themselves increasingly going to work in the equivalent of distant call centres far from the physical crossing points if the pilot project is expanded to some of the 75 other posts defined as small and remote points of entry.

Jean-Pierre Fortin, national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, which represents CBSA employees, said there are concerns about job losses, but also about the ability of agents to properly screen travellers.

“The problem we have is that in talking to someone through a camera, you won’t be able to detect their level of nervousness and you can’t have a proper view of everything,” he said. “And we’re not certain that with the very expensive technology is going to save them money compared to keeping two agents at the post.”

Fortin said he plans to raise his concerns with Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale in an upcoming meeting and hopes that the change of government in October 2015 may also mean a change in perspective on such an important matter as border security.

“If there’s a car that goes there, speaks through a telephone and the officer in Hamilton get’s suspicious, then he would have to call another border to say I think this car should be looked at,” Fortin noted. “Do you think for a second that the person in the car is going to wait half an hour for a CBSA agent to arrive, especially if he knows we’re going down there to get him.”

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