WINDSOR, Ont. – Ian Smith used to spend most of his days behind a desk in the RCMP’s Windsor, Ont., detachment, working on investigations and performing administrative duties. As a member of the force’s border integrity unit, the constable says he didn’t even have to wear his uniform.
But that recently changed.
Smith now dons a uniform and body armour as he drives a marked RCMP vehicle to help patrol roughly 800 kilometres of Ontario’s border with the United States, in addition to his usual investigative work.
His typical workday has changed since Canada made a $1.3-billion pledge to beef up border security in hopes of staving off U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, some of which were nevertheless realized.
While Ottawa has denied Trump’s claims that illegal migration and fentanyl smuggling from Canada are a “grave” threat to Americans, it has still committed to improving border patrols and the country’s immigration system, in addition to appointing a fentanyl czar.
Smith said he wants to do his part.
“We’re doing these 24-hour patrols now, which is new for us as well here,” he said in an interview as he drove along Windsor’s side of the Detroit River, which forms part of the border between Ontario and Michigan.
“I believe it’s important because crime doesn’t happen during daylight hours only, you know, so hopefully we’re deterring the (criminal) behaviour.”
As part of the new approach, RCMP officers are increasingly engaging with people who live near the border to gather information and seek their help to stop the smuggling of drugs and people into and from Canada.
On a recent cloudy day, Smith took short, slow steps across the frozen river to speak with a group of people who were ice fishing, asking if they’ve seen anything suspicious.
The goal, he said, is “to be present, to be visible and really secure the border the best we can.”
There are between 30 and 40 officers in the Windsor detachment, including those seconded from other units and two Ontario Provincial Police officers sent to assist with border security, Smith said. He’s been with the detachment for nine years, after serving at an RCMP unit in Saskatchewan for six years.
At each shift, six to eight officers patrol hundreds of kilometres along the Ontario-U.S. border from Tobermory on Lake Huron all the way to Port Burwell on Lake Erie, a vast area that includes marshlands, lakes and rivers. Drones are a crucial part of the unit’s surveillance of those water bodies.
The unit recently received its third drone and officers will be trained to operate the new system.
Sgt. Ian Diplock, one of the drone operators at the detachment, said the devices are deployed to proactively monitor the area or respond to suspicious activities.
“We utilize them to get a vantage point higher up so that we’re not limited by just a ground-view level,” he said after demonstrating the assembly and operation of a drone outside the detachment.
The drones are also being used by officers who may not have good visibility while patrolling the waters on vessels, he said. A drone has to be in the sight line, meaning it can’t be flown farther than a kilometre from the officer operating it.
“We have a large area to patrol here, but the members are deployable throughout that area, so they would bring the system with them and be able to cover off,” Diplock said.
Smith said the unit has two boats to patrol the waters after the ice breaks up and melts in the spring. Several officers have also been trained to do surveillance from helicopters the RCMP has chartered as part of the larger border security plan.
More than half of the $1.3 billion allocated over six years in Ottawa’s plan will go to the Mounties and $355 million will go to the Canada Border Services Agency.
The RCMP said it has mobilized resources to immediately increase its ability to patrol border areas across the country.
The federal police service said it couldn’t provide the total number of officers deployed along the 8,891 kilometres of the Canada-U.S. border due to “operational integrity reasons,” but it has “repositioned members to areas that have historically attracted irregular migration flows.”
“The plan aims to detect and disrupt the fentanyl trade, introduce significant new tools for law enforcement, enhance operational co-ordination, increase information sharing and minimize unnecessary border volumes,” RCMP spokesperson Robin Percival wrote in a statement.
She said the RCMP has received 40 drones from the Canadian Armed Forces and obtained additional drones, counter-drone technology and other surveillance devices in the past year.
Two Black Hawk helicopters have also been chartered to help prevent “illegal crossings of people, goods and drugs” in both directions across the border, she said.
Mounties are not the only law enforcement agency looking to bolster border security.
Ontario said in January that its own plan will see some 200 provincial police officers increasing border patrols. Alberta has announced a new sheriff unit to patrol its border with the U.S. and conservation officers in Manitoba are helping out with border surveillance in that province.
Meanwhile, the Canada Border Services Agency said it will recruit more than 100 new officers, intelligence analysts and specialized chemists with the additional federal funds. The CBSA also plans to train more detector dog teams and get new tools and scanners.
The agency said its Operation Blizzard will target fentanyl and other synthetic narcotics coming in and out of Canada.
While Trump raises concerns over the flow of fentanyl and migrants into the U.S., data show that illegal firearms and drugs are coming into Canada from south of the border at an alarming pace.
Data shared with The Canadian Press show that CBSA agents have seized at least 2,345 firearms coming from the U.S. since 2022.
More than 24,000 kilograms of various drugs, including more than two kilograms of fentanyl, have also been confiscated during the same period at the U.S.-Canada border, the data show.
Officers in the Windsor RCMP detachment say they are working on numerous investigations related to more than 3,891 kilograms of illicit drugs seized by the CBSA at just two ports of entry – Windsor and Sarnia, Ont. – since January 2022. They say 386 kilograms have been seized so far in 2025.
“Criminals try to exploit the border both ways,” CBSA spokesperson Jacqueline Roby wrote in a statement. “U.S. authorities count on us in the same way we count on them to share information and identify threats to our countries.”
Smith, the RCMP officer in Windsor, agrees that the smuggling of illegal firearms and drugs into Canada is a serious issue.
In one such case, a bag full of handguns was seized after the drone carrying it across St. Clair River south of Sarnia, Ont., got stuck in a tree in 2022.
As for drug smuggling: “It is a huge problem, the amount of drugs that come into Canada,” he said.
Smith said there is close cross-border co-operation between American and Canadian authorities and they immediately inform each other about any large seizures of illegal weapons or drugs.
He said he doesn’t recall the Americans ever contacting the Windsor RCMP detachment about fentanyl coming from Canada.
Canadians have responded with a mix of anger and frustration to Trump’s claims about Canada, the ongoing tariff war and his annexation threats, with some boycotting U.S. products and cancelling trips south of the border.
Smith said his own family is hitting pause on trips to nearby Detroit, which faces Windsor from the other side of the river, for now.
“Right now, I’ll keep my money in Canada, until these tariff threats or tariffs go away,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 16, 2025.
