A Canadian is prevented from entering the U.S after border officials gain access to her confidential medical history.
Meanwhile, in Ottawa, the Commons is in an uproar over revelations that U.S. spies set up shop here in 2010 — with Canadian government assistance — to snoop on international leaders attending the G20 meeting in Toronto.
What’s common to these two stories is the practice of information sharing between Canada and the U.S.
It has long existed in some form. It accelerated wildly after the 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington. It now threatens to veer out of control.
That Canada and the U.S. share some information makes sense. We live next door to each other. At some points in history (the Second World War is one example) we have had common enemies.
It seems reasonable that Canadian border guards have some forewarning when, say, a convicted criminal attempts to cross the frontier at Niagara Falls. And vice versa.
What isn’t reasonable is what happened to Ellen Richardson. As the Star’s Valerie Hauch reported, the Toronto paraplegic was turned back at Pearson airport by U.S. immigration officials Monday, while attempting to fly to New York.