Representatives from a variety of agencies from both Canada and the U.S. met on Western’s campus Tuesday, to discuss preparation of the United States-Canada border for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.

“There has been so little discussion of the Olympics, at least on this side of the border,” said Don Alper, director of Western’s Border Policy Research Institute. “But it is a huge deal up in Canada.”

Tuesday’s meeting featured keynote speaker U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, the co-chair of Gov. Chris Gregoire’s task force for the Olympics.

The discussion was sponsored by four Western organizations: the Center for Canadian-American Studies, the Border Policy Research Institute, the Ross Professorship and the Center for Performance Excellence.

 “We are excited about being able to support the Vancouver Olympics, [but] we also understand this is Canada’s Olympics,” Larsen said.

Yet, the impact of the games, which open Feb. 12, will extend well beyond Vancouver into the U.S., Larsen said.

In his update, Larsen addressed concerns related to border security, transportation and the advantages Washington has as a result of the Olympics being so close.

In September 2008, Sen. Patty Murray announced that $4.5 million of the money allotted for critical spending for the 2010 Winter Olympics security preparation would fund an

Olympic Coordination Center located in a warehouse near Bellingham International Airport.

The purpose of this center is to coordinate U.S. agencies south of the border in case a natural disaster or terrorist attack were to occur during the games, Larsen said.

The center has the capacity for approximately 80 people, but only 42 members of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies will be stationed there during the games.

While the coordination center is not affiliated in any way with Olympic security organized in Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police will have a liaison stationed at the center for coordination purposes.

In addition to the coordination center, which will continue to operate after the Olympics, agencies south of the border have been working to ensure that traffic brought to the border during the games will not be unmanageable, Larsen said.

“One place that I think we have had a lot of success, and we could have even more, is on the border,” said Ian Burkheimer, program manager of Tourism for the Pacific Northwest Economic Region.  

Burkheimer said the U.S., especially Washington state, has been proactive in avoiding border complications via the enhanced license program, which allows travelers to cross the border using a specialized driver’s license in place of a passport.

“That project was actually very much driven by making the border more accessible during the games,” Burkheimer said.

 The General Services Administration and the Customs and Border Protection, both components of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, have also committed to operating four extra booths—for a total of 10—at the Peace Arch border crossing during the games, Larsen said.

The four temporary booths will be installed in the secondary inspection lanes at the Peace Arch crossing in December to make sure the crossings will be operational come February.

Additional lanes will be incorporated at the Lynden and Sumas border crossings as well, where current bypass lanes will be converted into fully functioning border crossings.   

Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike said he sees the exposure the region will receive as a result of the Olympics as a great opportunity.

“If there are businesses looking to expand to this part of the world, they will think about it more closely and have that thought in their brains because of the Olympics,” Pike said.

While Burkheimer said he hopes there is a direct impact of people coming through the area and staying in hotels during the Olympics, what happens after the Olympics is more important.

“One of the things we don’t want to see happen is [that] we have people come through the United States to go to the Olympics and have a really bad experience at the border,” Pike said. “I’m confident that we will get to a place where that won’t happen, as long as we pay attention, because we are running out of time.”

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