Canada

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Police officers investigate the scene of a shooting at the Canadian border crossing in Surrey, B.C., Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012. Ontario Provincial Police have identified a Canadian border guard shot in the neck while on the job at a crossing south of Vancouver.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says he's not interested in speeding up the arming of border guards, despite a shooting yesterday that sent a guard at a BC crossing to hospital with a gunshot wound.

The Canada Border Services Agency said in 2006 that it planned to arm its 4,800 guards within 10 years, and so far, just under half have been trained.

But Toews says he's concerned that any effort to hasten that training might compromise safety.

The guard shot Tuesday has been identified as Lori Bowcock, who had worked as a civilian dispatcher with the Ontario Provincial Police until this past spring.

RCMP say she remains in stable condition in hospital after a man driving a white van with Washington state licence plates shot her and killed himself. She is expected to make a full recovery.

Bowcock had been working in a customs booth at the border at the time, but it is not clear whether she is one of the more than 2,000 border guards who have been trained to carry a firearm.