Few ‘potential threats’ led to action, border agency says

More details sought regarding drugs, firearms, people entering Canada

Only three per cent of “potential threats” identified by Canada’s border security agency last year resulted in any enforcement action, an internal review reveals.

The Canada Border Services Agency reported last week that of the “potential threats to the safety and security of Canada” identified by the agency — including both inadmissible goods and people — only three per cent led to an “enforcement action or inadmissibility recommendation.”

The agency’s target for 2017-18 had been 18 per cent. “The CBSA uses various methods to identify potential threats, including security screening, risk-based targeting, intelligence analysis, and the issuance of lookouts to flag highrisk entities for increased scrutiny,” the agency wrote in a report.

“The result of (three per cent) was obtained by dividing the number of resultant threats (i.e. threats that led to an enforcement action on inadmissibility recommendation) by the total number of potential threats identified.”

The Star requested comment from the agency last Thursday, but as of Tuesday CBSA had not responded.

The office of Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, the minister responsible for oversight of CBSA, said the matter was operational and declined to comment.

It’s not clear, based on the CBSA’s own reporting, what “potential threats” it identified last year and why such a low percentage resulted in any enforcement action.

The Star has asked for a complete list of what the agency considers a “potential threat.”

Michelle Rempel, the Conservative critic for immigration and border security issues, said that it’s incumbent on the agency to release more information.

“Anybody who’s looking at the report is going to see the three per cent figure and just go, ‘This is beyond the pale,’ ” Rempel told the Star.

Rempel said she wants more details from the agency on three areas: opioids entering the country, potential threats in terms of people entering Canada, and the issue of illegal firearms crossing the Canada-U.S. border.

“People are actually wondering if Canada can maintain the integrity of the border, so statistics like that really don’t help maintain public confidence that the system is working,” Rempel said.

“And frankly it’s not just about the confidence issue. Borders exist for a reason. That statistic should be significantly higher and I think most Canadians when they see that would demand better action.” According to the CBSA’s report, a total of 751 firearms were seized at the border in 2017-18, as well as 10,466 other weapons.

That’s up slightly from the year before, when a total of 546 firearms were seized at border crossings.