About Us

The Commission

The Commission is made up of two commissioners; one appointed in the United States and one in Canada, each chief of his own staff, equipment and budget. The U.S. Commissioner is appointed by the President and reports to the Secretary of State. The Canadian Commissioner is appointed by Order-in-Council, and reports to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. For administrative purposes, the Canadian Section of the Boundary Commission is located within the Department of Natural Resources Canada as a section of the Canada Centre for Cadastral Management.

The two current Commissioner's for the United States and Canada, are David L. Bernhardt and Peter Sullivan respectively. Each country's section operates their own offices and field crews. To contact the commission please use our Contact Us page.

Officially, the Commission's work is described as maintaining the boundary in an effective state of demarcation. This is done by inspecting it regularly; repairing, relocating or rebuilding damaged monuments or buoys; keeping the vista cleared, and erecting new boundary markers at such locations as new road crossings.

The Commission also regulates, under the provisions of the 1960 International Boundary Commission Act, all construction within 3 metres or 10 feet of the boundary and is responsible for defining the boundary location in any legal situation involving the border. The commissioners report annually on the work done during the year and provide to both governments the latest data on the boundary monuments.

All monuments along the boundary are located so that they tie in with the survey networks of both the United States and Canada through 1000 survey control stations established for this purpose near the border. The position of any monument may be redetermined at any time by the survey crews of the Commission, which are called on constantly to perform assorted survey duties along the boundary. These duties include improving survey connections to the control stations and establishing new monuments.

More About Us

• The Commission
• The History
• The Boundary

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