‘THE MAIL IS PRIVATE, SACRED’
RESIDENTS OF PICTURESQUE NEW BRUNSWICK ISLAND UPSET U.S. BORDER OFFICERS SEARCHING POST
V isitors to Campobello Island have often told life-long resident Curtis Malloch the community is “God’s hidden secret.”
But lately, the secret most islanders are concerned about is their mail and they’re not worried about keeping it from the Almighty, they’re worried about the prying eyes of U.S. border guards.
Campobello is on the southern edge of New Brunswick, wedged between Deer Island and Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy. The island has no direct link to Canada, but has a bridge connecting it to Lubec, Maine.
The island has a grocery store, but for most services residents drive across the border into Lubec. They show their passports just to get gas and occasionally have to deal with a random search after a trip to the hardware store.
Malloch, a 49-year-old fisherman, said it’s just a fact of life.
“If you start a little do-it-yourself project, usually you have to cross about seven times to go to the hardware store,” he said. “If I had a toonie for every time I crossed that border from the time I had my driver’s licence until now, I could retire.”
Mail service has for decades come to the community through Maine. Parcels and letters are sorted in Saint Stephen, New Brunswick and then put on a truck to cross the border into Calais, Maine. The truck then drives about 80 kilometres through the United States, before crossing at Lubec through a Canadian border crossing into Campobello.
The truck is still taking the same route, but U.S. border guards, who had largely waived the postal truck through before, are now routinely searching mail shipments to Campobello.
The change wasn’t announced, but residents began to notice little green stickers, indicating their packages have been searched.
Malloch, a former member of the New Brunswick legislature, said he doesn’t understand why things suddenly changed.
“We went years and years and years and never got our mail searched and now all of a sudden we’re getting our mail searched,” he said.
He wants local politicians to get in a room and find out what happened and figure out a way to fix it.
“Have they even sat down at a table or even made a phone call to one another?”
Steve Hatch has had a vacation home on the island for decades and moved there full time this year. He said none of his mail has been searched yet, but it’s definitely happening to others.
“I have seen the stickers. The postmistress says that every shipment of mail has some.”
Hatch said it takes away any sense of privacy.
“Anything you have coming by mail here an American can take a look at. If you have medical records coming by mail an American can take a look at it,” he said. “You have no expectation of privacy.”
Conservative MP John Williamson, who represents the riding, raised the problem in the new parliament’s first question period earlier this month.
“The mail is private, sacred, it’s not to be tampered with, but that is what’s happening here,” he said.
Williamson said constituents on the island aren’t asking for anything other Canadians wouldn’t also demand.
“They already feel a sense of remoteness from the rest of Canada, because of that unique drive they have,” he said. “They now rightly feel that the long arm of the U.S. government is reaching right into their private mail.”
He said he suspects Canada’s decision to legalize cannabis is what prompted U.S customs to become more curious about the mail.
Michael Mccarthy, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, couldn’t comment on border procedures or why they might have changed. But he said the agency has the right to search anything coming into the United States, even if it is only passing through.
“CBP Officers possess broad search authority to ensure the safety and admissibility of all goods entering the United States. This includes the ability to inspect and search all persons, baggage and merchandise arriving in — or transiting through — the United States,” he said in an email.
Canada Post said they’re in talks with CBP to find ways to smooth the process, but a company spokesperson said transiting through Maine is the best option for the mail.
“While there are challenges with this approach, it is the only available and safe option beyond seasonal ferry service,” said spokesperson Jon Hamilton in an email. “Canada Post, like the residents who travel to and from the island using the same route, is obligated to operate within the confines of the law.”
Hamilton said they’re hopeful they will be able to resolve the issues and avoid any delays in mail delivery.
Canada Post has advised residents to avoid sending certain items through the mail, including most food items, pharmaceuticals, alcohol and plants, warning even one of those items can delay an entire shipment. Cannabis New Brunswick, the provincial marijuana agency, has also stopped delivering to the island.
Malloch said he’s not convinced cannabis was the trigger, because medicinal cannabis has been coming through the mail for years. He said there needs to be a long-term solution and it should come from Canada Post.
“This is a Canada Post issue. If we are paying taxes, we are paying Canada Post to get our mail to us, Canada Post should find an alternative route for our mail,” he said.
Malloch said CBP has every right to look through the mail if they so choose and on an island of fishers, the agency should be able to find someone to make a daily mail run.
“There are 50 or 60 boats here, you could contract one of them guys to pick our mail up in Deer Island.”
Justin Tinker, another lifelong islander agrees, but said he wants to see a regular ferry to the island that would ensure the island isn’t reliant on the whims of border officers.
“The problem isn’t CBP the problem is the utter reliance on CBP for anyone going to the rest of Canada,” he said. “The longterm solution is absolutely a ferry. It is a reasonable solution and a feasible solution.”
Tinker, 33, is a member of a committee pushing for a yearround ferry to the island. A ferry currently runs from around mid-june to October, but it doesn’t go beyond that and it was out of service for a full season two years ago after it sank.
He said the border has gradually hardened over his lifetime.
“Before 9/11, we never actually stopped at the border. We would slow down enough to make eye contact with the person who was in the building,” he said. “They would wave at us, we would wave at them, and we would keep on going.”
The island’s population has been on a steady decline. In 2001, there were about 1,200 people in the community, but as of 2016 it was 872. The island’s median income is also on the decline and Tinker said it’s the families that can afford it who are moving.
“The middle class on Campobello has essentially eroded,” he said. “There is always a straw that breaks the camel’s back. For at least one family this recent mail issue has been the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Tinker said he hopes the issue can become a ballot question in a provincial byelection expected early next year. He fully expects a ferry would require some level of government subsidy, but said it is time for the government to act.
Deer Island north of Campobello has a similar population, but has no road access and is closer to the mainland, so a ferry is available. There’s also a ferry to Grand Manan, which has a larger population.
Hatch, who moved permanently to Campobello knowing full well tighter border controls could happen, said he doesn’t regret his decision.
He just wants either the provincial or federal government to step up and solve the problem.
“For people like me, we came here and just fell in love with the place,” he said. There are whales right offshore. You can sit on your deck and hear them, look up and see them. It is just a beautiful spot.”