U.S. starting to work collaboratively on the border, not alone

Last week, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and United States Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a plan to establish a first-ever cross-border approach to critical infrastructure. It would see the two nations sharing information and managing risks in an effort to better prepare and respond to natural disasters. The two countries also announced the possibility of sharing information to combat money-laundering and terrorist financing. 

"I do believe that immediately after 9/11 and soon afterwards there was a unilateral effort in terms of how much [border] tightening was going on, with the US on guard," said David Davidson, associate director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University.