Increasing Border Enforcement On the Canada-US Border
SEP 26, 2001  CEUDA meeting with Minister

Student Customs Officers

CEUDA is calling for the immediate and permanent removal of all students working from the Customs Primary Inspection Line and from all uniformed Customs positions across Canada. 

Having as many as 1,000 students with minimal training and trying to carry out the work of experienced and professional Customs Officers during each summer, and as many as 200 year-round, is unacceptable. 

The Auditor General warned, and we agree, that students and Term employees do not receive adequate training (5.72 and 5.73 of the April 2000 Auditor General’s report).

A study commissioned by Immigration and Citizenship Canada (the Ekos study) to measure the effectiveness of the Primary Inspection Line of Customs reported that in August 1991 (a peak traveller period when a massive number of students are employed) more than 50,000 immigration referals to Secondary Inspection were missed.  

CEUDA is prepared to accept students at the front line but only if they receive the full and complete training that is provided Customs Officers, and only if they pass the CIRTP test, following which they can be employed as seasonal employees by the CCRA. 

15% of Customs Officers are being terminated because they do not have the competencies to pass the CIRTP test in Rigaud.  There must be a uniform standard for all.  No standard exists for students and term employees.

June 2001 CEUDA letter to Parliamentarians on
Student Customs Officers

One-person ports

CEUDA is calling for an immediate and permanent enhanced presence – doubling-up, at what are traditionally referred to as one-man ports.

Many ports across Canada employ a single Customs Officer, working alone.  This is unacceptable given the increased pressure to deal with suspect criminals and terrorists at the border. 

Every Customs port needs to be staffed with two officers at every time the port is open. 

Failing doubling-up as a minimum, additional FRTs are called for.  We recommend FRTs be staffed with individuals representing different enforcement departments like Immigration, Agriculture, or others.  The mix of professionals should be specific to the ports being monitored and based on the type of goods or people coming across. 

The Auditor General says there is a total lack of information sharing between Customs and other government departments (5.42 to 5.47 of April 2000 Auditor General’s report).  A mix of professionals from various agencies working together on FRTs would go a long way to fostering the sharing of information that is required.

Information technology

CEUDA is calling for the immediate network hook-up of computers and all Customs software tools at all ports of entry across Canada. 

It is unacceptable for some Customs Officers in ports across Canada to have limited or no access to electronic Customs systems, which provide intelligence and support to Customs Officers who must undertake interdiction and detention decisions and actions. 

We need to have tools to access information.  The Auditor General reported that much of the information Customs uses is dated since it is not shared with Customs on a timely basis, that such information is problematic in that data entry at source has many errors, and that systems providing the information are slow and antiquated (5.51 to 5.64 of the April 2000 report).

Agreements will clearly need to be renegotiated with other government departments and quickly so that the information Customs uses for enforcement actions is complete and current.  

Systems need to be updated and provided to all ports of entry across Canada.

It is the practice when sharing intelligence between agencies or between countries, for each party to be able to contribute to the exchange.  Canada Customs has a poor track record of data collection to share with its law enforcement and intelligence counterparts.  Customs Officers need to be encouraged to collect and report strange occurences in the travellers’ stream at the border.

CANPASS

CEUDA is calling for the permanent suspension of CANPASS, and NEXUS.

Secondary referrals have totally been abandonned for CANPASS users and if the CANPASS program is to continue there must be a minimum number of referrals for secondary inspection. 

Right now an unacceptably high number of CANPASS users are being waved through Customs without referral to secondary inspection.

CEUDA suggests that a 5% to 10 % rate of referral to secondary inspections of CANPASS users is necessary.

An internal CCRA audit reported that in excess of 10% of address information logged in the CANPASS system is inaccurate and that, more troubling, there are no mechanisms or efforts expended as follow-up to correct this.  Again this highlights the limitation that poor data capture can impose on intelligence and enforcement.