By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

Two Canadian groups have called on the Canadian government to strengthen border security, highlighting failures to crack down on drug trafficking and illicit trade.

While the U.S. and Canada “share one of the most successful and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationships in the world,” the groups argue, the transborder economies are facing “a myriad of inter-connected threats relating to illicit trade, from drug trafficking and organized crime to human smuggling and money laundering.”

The International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE) and Council of the Great Lakes Region argue the “biggest cross-border criminal security threats to Canada and the US are the staggering amounts of dirty money that is laundered in both countries by Mexican cartels, Chinese money laundering syndicates, and other transnational criminal organizations that finance greater insecurity and instability.”

The ICAIE has published the first Phase 1 of its Canada Illicit Economies Project outlining national security threats Canadians and Americans now face stemming from decades of lax international security efforts. The report was published after Canadian authorities told The Center Square the U.S.-Canada border is the most secure border in the world after The Center Square reported the greatest number of known or suspected terrorists were being apprehended in the U.S. coming from Canada.

The report highlights key players, regions, trafficking routes and illicit economies.

Transnational criminal organizations operating in Canada

These include Punjabi gangs involved in a billion-dollar drug supply network trafficking heroin and methamphetamines from India to North America and Europe through Canada; the Hells Angels biker gang controlling domestic drug distribution in Canada; and an Iranian crime network, a “silent partner in fentanyl smuggling” in Canada, ICAIE says.

Mexican cartels, Chinese triads and motorcycle gangs manage the illicit drug supply chain; casinos, real estate and underground banking networks are used to launder illicit proceeds, authorities have found.

Key regions and illicit drug trafficking routes

One key illicit drug trafficking hub is the Great Lakes region, covering eight U.S. states, two Canadian provinces and First Nation lands, according to the report. An $8 trillion-dollar illicit business operates in the region, equivalent to the third largest economy in the world if it were a country, ICAIE says. The criminal network handles more than 50% of U.S.-Canada cross border trade with 25% flowing through the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit and Windsor, ICAIE estimates.

Five of the top 10 U.S. land ports are located in the region. The three largest by volume are Detroit and Port Huron Michigan and Buffalo-Niagara Falls, New York. ICAIE also points to a human smuggling route through the Akwesasne First Nation, which has been grappling with cartel crime, The Center Square reported.

First Nation tribes are on the front lines of U.S.-Canada border crimes, with Texas sheriffs and others proposing a solution, The Center Square exclusively reported.

The ICAIE also notes that the greatest number of illegal border crossers coming from Canada to the U.S. were apprehended by U.S. immigration officials in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Swanton Sector in Vermont and upstate New York, which The Center Square has reported for years. It also notes that the majority of illicit drugs seized at the U.S.-Canada border were by U.S. authorities in the CBP Buffalo, Detroit and Swanton sectors coming from Canada, The Center Square has also reported for years.

Mexican cartels are also smuggling cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine into Canada from the U.S., ICAIE says, primarily through Vancouver and Montreal. Smugglers are using ecommerce, postal services and air cargo as well as commercial and private vehicles, authorities have found. Border Patrol is also apprehending Mexican human smugglers in the region, The Center Square reported.

Underground illicit economies

The “financial backbone of the drug trade” is a Chinese organized crime syndicate, referred to as the Chinese triad, ICAIE says. The syndicate is known for drug trafficking, extortion, human trafficking and expansive money laundering operations. Vancouver and Toronto are the primary hubs of Chinese illicit operations in Canada, ICAIE notes. In the U.S., Sinaloa Cartel Chinese-linked money launderers have been arrested in California and in Texas, with operations spanning nationwide, The Center Square reported.

The ICAIE says it couldn’t obtain official data from Canadian authorities about the size and scale of the illicit drug trade in Canada. Instead, it cites U.S. State Department reports estimating billions of dollars are laundered every year in Canada.

ICAIE’s executive director David Luna concludes, “Canada has become a safe zone for the world’s most notorious crime groups and threat networks. It is not merely a consumer of illicit goods and contraband, but increasingly serves as a hub of illicit trade, production and distribution of illicit goods, an exporter of such contraband, and a money laundering safe haven for a potpourri of bad actors and sinister malign networks. Additionally, these illicit activities have a disrupting and destabilizing impact on Canadian political, governance, security, and business structures.

“In fact, across Canada, criminal networks continue to profit handsomely from an array of illicit activities that are endangering the health and safety of its citizens, and are imperiling the country’s national security, threatening global peace, and financing greater insecurity around the world through the criminality of Mexican cartels, Chinese Triads, Iranian-backed illicit finance networks, and state-sponsored malign influence.”