This review was partially brought about by an incident at a small, rural border BC crossing. I believe it to be the Eastport.

It is a one person border shack, isolated area, nearest backup is 45+min away. Their were shots fired at the border shack, the customs officer took cover and called for help. The call was answered in the Ops Comm Centre in Kelowna BC where it was then dispatched to the nearest RCMP detachment, this is a cumbersome process at the best of times, with many calls being delayed for whatever reason.

From the time of the call to the time of back up arriving, the border guard could easily have been killed ir injured. In this particular case he was not physically harmed.

Border guards at land crossings are open to serious harm IMO, they deal with all types of people and situations. A nasty situation does not normally come with a warning that gives time for armed back up to arrive. Personally, I think the guards at land crossings should be armed, like the police, one hopes they will never have to fire their weapon.
The other side of this, I find it odd that the border guards/customs officers at YVR where their bullet proof vests in the customes hall, where all the pax have come off a plane, and they were screened for weapons prior to boarding. The vests are hot heavy and sweaty, not nice to where.