U.S. Senate approved $25 million to go towards increasing the security at Canadian-American borders. An additional cut of the $20 billion emergency aid fund approved by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks could go to strengthening security at the Canadian borders as well. However, Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service said Wednesday that this funding would not be adequate to ensure increased security in the future.

In the past, Mexico has been the focus of U.S. border security. About 16,000 Customs officers and INS agents patrol the U.S.-Mexican border as compared with approximately 2,000 agents patrolling the U.S.-Canadian border.

In 1999, attention shifted slightly to the Northern border when Ahmed Ressam tried to enter Washinton state from Canada with a car full of explosives. His plan was to detonate it at the Los Angeles airport during the millennium celebrations.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, evidence was uncovered that at least one person taken into custody entered the U.S. through Canada. John Ashcroft, who oversees the INS, promised tighter security and has succeeded, At least for the present.

Commissioners James Ziglar of the INS and Robert Bonner of Customs said that they have increased their effort in securing the border, and Customs service has temporarily moved 100 of their officers to the northern border posts.

However, Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who is on a panel responsible for Customs' spending, says that the Northern border are, ``woefully understaffed.''

American confidence has risen with these new security measures, but Ziglar stated, when talking to the Treasury and General Government Subcommittee, ``that degree of confidence will go down very rapidly if we don't get additional resources.'' Dogan added, ``This is America's security at a border crossing.... America cannot effectively combat terrorism if it does not effectively control its borders.''

But how do Canadians feel about the tightened security at their border? It depends on whom you ask. Prime Minister Jean Chretien has said that Canada will not be a fortress against the world. However, the American ambassador in Ottawa, Paul Cellucci, has called for tightening Canadian policies on immigration, visas, asylum and anti-terrorism. And it seems that many Canadians approve.

In Streetsville, Ontario, a memorial for the deceased of World War I and World War II stands. Since Sept. 11, a wreath and candles commemorating those victims of the terrorist attacks have appeared.

John Davies, a retired dentist stopped to look and said about the United States, ``It's almost as if we're cut from the same cloth, really.''

Feris Ahmed, an Iraqi, felt that all North Americans should unite under this new threat. ``This is not a localized crisis,'' he said. ``It is international. It affects each and everyone of us.''

American flags have been flying all over Canada, including two flags outside Michael Moore's house. Moore, who works as a courier said, ``we were heartbroken, but I didn't know what help we could be. We had the flags, so we just put them out.''

Fifty-three percent of Canadians who took a poll conducted by the EKOS research organization for The Toronto Star, La Presse in Montreal and CBC News said that they supported a ``security perimeter'' around Canada and the U.S., and 59 percent said that they wouldn't be opposed to ``giving up some of our national sovereignty if it increased overall security in North America.''

These sentiments have been expressed even in Mr. Chretien's own party. Premier Gordon Campbell of British Columbia said that Canada should ``work arm in arm with America to create an airtight North American border,'' adding, ``We have no better friend in Canada that the United States of America.''

A columnist and former editorial page editor of ``The Toronto'' Star, Haroon Siddiqi, summed up what seems to be the Canadian people's feeling when he said, ``There is an extraordinary sympathy, empathy, and walking shoulder to shoulder with the Americans.''