Cross Border Insurgencies

From the time Champlain gave his Huron allies firearms against the Iroquois, what is now the US-Canadian border has been the scene of raids and refuge-seekers.

This does not include the skirmishes and open warfare among First Nations that took place earlier when boundaries were drawn along other lines.

Rogue traders who refused to operate under the fur trade rules of New France went Stateside to join the English from the 1600's on. Refugees from the US Revolutionary War—not just British Loyalists but turncoats who found themselves on the losing side—fled to Canada in the 1700's.

In the War of 1812 regular armies from each side invaded the other's territory. Washington DC was burned by British armies, as was York (now Toronto), Ontario. by American forces.

Though this was the last time hostilities between the United States and Canada (then British North America) took place at an official level, the two countries continued to harbor and encourage rebels and refugees from the other.

The leaders of the Canadian 1837 rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada sought asylum in the US, as did Louis Riel after his first 1870 uprising on the Red River, Manitoba. His lieutenant, Gabriel Dumont, fled to the States after Riel's 1885 uprising in Northern Saskatchewan failed.

Chief Sitting Bull came to Canada with many of his Lakota people after their massacre of Custer's Force at Bighorn.

During War between the States, Irish patriots of the Fenian Brotherhood (forerunners of the IRA) had run raids into Canada from the US. Local defense against such incursions was one of the reasons for Canadian Confederation in 1867.

Before American entry into the Second World War, Canada served as an unofficial staging ground for US commandos practicing maneuvers and sabotage against Nazi Germany.

And it was fear of Canada-based insurgencies if Britain fell to the Nazis that prompted closer security and border alignment between the two North American countries.

Given the amount of border and history here, it is not surprising to find would-be subversives trying to enter one country from the other, as did the Millennium Bomber on New Year's Eve 1999. Ahmed Ressam’s entry into the US was foiled by an observant US Customs official at the Port Angeles, WA ferry terminal.

What is surprising is that there are not more of these incidents. The fact that there are not--or at least that we don't hear of them—may be a result of the exchange of information between security forces in the two countries.