Behind the Headlines, Border Security in the Age of COVID-19

What Next for Borders and Security? – Series Conclusion

Published: Winter 2021 | By: Arne Kislenko and Wesley Wark | Volume 69, No.22

Summary

As a closing piece to this series of essays for the Canadian International Council‘s “Beyond the Headlines” publication, we reflect on the scope of challenges and changes in borders and their security that COVID-19 has bequeathed us. Looking to the future, there is a clear sense of new requirements for managing borders in a coming age when natural hazards presented by climate change impacts on migration, and the lurking possibility of new pandemics, will join traditional threats at the border posed by categories of peoples and goods deemed inadmissible for national security purposes. While the road map remains unclear, we close this series with six predictions, as food for thought for CIC readers.

About the Authors

Arne Kislenko is an Associate Professor with the Department of History at Ryerson University and an instructor in the International Relations programme at Trinity College, University of Toronto. He has won numerous teaching awards, including the prestigious 3M National Teaching Fellowship.

Wesley Wark is currently a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, where he is co-directing a project on re-imagining Canadian national security for the 21st Century. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa and an instructor at the Centre on Public Management and Policy, where he teaches courses on intelligence and security to government officials.