Across the country over the same period, the RCMP stopped 15 people trying to cross illegally from the U.S. in three separate operations. In only one case was a Black Hawk involved.

According to the RCMP, leasing the Black Hawks from Ottawa’s Helicopter Transport Services cost taxpayers $5.3 million — part of an effort to mollify Trump and avert the tariffs.

It has been, to a degree, “border security theatre” said Wesley Wark, senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a think-tank in Waterloo, Ont.

“We’re putting up hardware into the skies, Black Hawk helicopters, we’re putting up 24/7 surveillance on the border,” he said. “It’s designed to appease the United States.”