Canada's Minister of Public Safety has committed to evaluating policing strategies for border crossings like the Ambassador Bridge.
During a visit to Windsor Tuesday, Minister Marco Mendicino said after the inquiry into the Emergencies Act is complete the government will be in a position to evaluate all the tools authorities have to prevent blockades like the one that shut down traffic to the Ambassador Bridge for nearly a week.
"One of the important questions will be whether or not we need to update our existing legal authorities so that all branches of law enforcement can more quickly mobilize and coordinate their efforts to address this new type of threat," said Mendicino.
During his testimony to the commission on Monday, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said he is still looking to the provincial and federal government to create a policy that clearly outlines roles and responsibilities for incidents involving international crossings.
The City of Windsor spent an additional $5.1 million in policing costs to clear the Ambassador Bridge blockade in February. Neither the provincial or federal government have come forward with funds to cover those costs.
Mendicino said he will continue to work with the City of Windsor so that it can fully recover from the blockade.
"We'll make sure we look for every opportunity to facilitate the recovery coming out of the illegal blockades going forward," said Mendicino.
