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Henri Ouellette-Vézina
Press
“We want to point out that these checks will always be visual, and not intrusive. In other words, we will not search people, but simply ensure that they do not enter prohibited weapons, explosives or incendiary devices on ferries, for example. All for security reasons, ”explains STQ communications advisor Bruno Verreault.
He specifies that it was during an inspection, held a few months ago at the Québec-Lévis crossing, that Transport Canada demanded that the organization “improve” its security plan, by introducing this news. measures. These are intended to be “one-off” and not “systematic”, reiterates the government body in a press release.
The three routes targeted by these new measures are all designated MARSEC, a pan-Canadian alert level system. They are those of Sorel-Tracy – Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola, Québec-Lévis and Tadoussac – Baie-Sainte-Catherine. The objective is to maintain “MARSEC level 1”, which involves among other things “inspecting ship’s stores before being accepted”.
In its declaration, the STQ also indicates that the “luggage and vehicles of customers wishing to get on board” will be covered. “It could be, for example, security guards stationed in Sorel-Tracy, one day X, then elsewhere then,” adds Mr. Verreault.
It is also specified that “customers will not be obliged to comply with an agent’s request for verification”, but that “access to the facilities and to the vessel will however be impossible in such a case”.
A protocol in progress
A call for tenders will be made public in the coming weeks, in order to hire external security guards. In the meantime, the private company Les Commissionaires du Québec will be mandated to carry out these new verifications as of March 14. The organization, founded in 1925, has a mandate “to offer rewarding jobs to ex-military personnel in career transition”, we read on its site.
“That said, we don’t want these new measures to disrupt or slow down the service, so it will be applied in such a way as to still be able to ensure the smooth flow of boarding”, for his part clarified Bruno Verreault, at the STQ.
Like all other ferry companies in the country, the Société des traversiers du Québec is required to comply with the Regulation respecting the security of domestic ferries, under the Marine Transportation Security Act, which falls under the federal government.
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