The Foreign Service Journal, October 2007

cost millions of dollars. Other shippers find that the shortest route between New York and Michigan is through southern On- tario; they never stop in Can- ada at all except for customs inspections. Toronto’s Pearson Internation- al Airport and Ottawa’s Macdon- ald-Cartier International Airport are two of eight airports in Canada (and less than a handful of others around the world) to host Depart- ment of Homeland Security/Customs and Border Pro- tection officers, who pre-clear air travelers to the United States prior to boarding flights. Nearly nine million pas- sengers flew through Pearson to or from the United States in 2006, making it America’s fifth-busiest airport port of entry. Pearson also handles 40 percent of Canada’s air cargo. For almost a century the International Joint Commission, established in 1909 under the Boundary Waters Treaty, has served as a model for managing and resolving maritime border disputes. To protect the quali- ty of our shared water resources and ensure equitable sharing of this vital resource, Washington and Ottawa have signed several bilateral agreements. These include a 1950 treaty governing sharing of water from the Niagara River to generate power on both sides of the border, while ensuring suffi- cient water to maintain Niagara Falls; and the 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, which commits Canada and the U.S. to maintaining the integrity of that ecosystem and cleaning up pollut- ed sites. Canadians do not need visas to travel to the U.S., of course, but Toronto visa officers still have much to do. Toronto is per- haps the world’s most diverse city; nearly 50 percent of Torontonians were born outside of Canada (compared, for example, to the 36 percent of New Yorkers who are foreign-born). Non-Canadian applicants from around the world — over 60,000 representing some 172 countries in 2006 — come to Consulate Toronto to apply for U.S. visas. This makes our non-immigrant visa work more var- ied and challenging in its own way than perhaps at any other post. Toronto also is the only U.S. Foreign Service post with major league baseball and an NBA team, and both Toronto and Ottawa host storied NHL franchises. This means that consular and CBP officers in both cities sup- F O C U S 36 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 7 The International Bridge links Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, to Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. It crosses over the Soo Locks, which connect Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. Courtesy of Embassy Ottawa More trade crosses the 78-year-old Ambassador Bridge linking Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Mich., than any other border point in the world.