International Boundary Commission
The International Boundary Commission (French: Commission de la frontière internationale) is a bi-national organization responsible for surveying and mapping the Canada–United States border and regulating construction close to the border. The commission was created in 1908 and made permanent by a treaty in 1925.[1]
This article is about a US-Canada border commission. For the commission that oversees the boundary between the United States and Mexico, see International Boundary and Water Commission. For the commission created by the Canada–US Boundary Waters Treaty, see International Joint Commission.Abbreviation
Its responsibilities also include maintaining boundary monuments and buoys, keeping the border vista on each side clear of brush and vegetation within three meters (about 10 feet) from the boundary, overseeing any applications for permission to build within the vista, and reporting annually to the governments of both countries.
Building near the boundary[edit]
The treaty establishing the commission provides that every power line, pipeline, railroad, highway, or other structure crossing the boundary or built within 3 meters (about 9 feet 10 inches) of the boundary must await authorization from the commission before construction work can be done. Various "line houses"—buildings through which the international boundary crosses—were built on the boundaries between the state of Maine and the province of New Brunswick, the state of Vermont and the province of Quebec, and the state of New York and the province of Quebec before any requirement for the commission's permission existed. Some of these still stand. The most well known is the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, intentionally located astride the boundary. The International Peace Garden, built in 1932 on the boundary between Manitoba and North Dakota, required authorization from the commission.