Strengthening border security
In Canada, the Department of Public Safety, alongside the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), takes a leadership role in keeping Canadians safe and supporting the country's economic prosperity through the secure and efficient management of Canada's borders. We are doing this by tackling cross-border crime, drug trafficking and irregular migration, including targeting organized criminal groups, in collaboration with different law enforcement agencies across Canada and federal departments, and through ongoing dialogue between Canada and the United States on strategic and operational border policy issues.
Canada's border plan
The Government of Canada is taking concrete action to further strengthen border security and the immigration system to keep communities safe. To support this work, the Government of Canada announced an investment of $1.3 billion to support more personnel, new technology and equipment, and enhanced coordination.
The investment plan has five pillars for specific action, in addition to existing efforts:
- Detecting and disrupting the fentanyl trade
- Introducing significant new tools for law enforcement
- Improving operational coordination
- Expanding information sharing
- Minimizing unnecessary border volumes
Detecting and disrupting the fentanyl trade
The Government of Canada will increase support to law enforcement agencies by adding imaging tools and use of artificial intelligence to detect, intercept, and take further steps to addressing disrupt and curb the trade of fentanyl and precursor chemicals.
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
The CBSA will deploy new imaging and chemical detection tools at high-risk ports of entry and train and deploy new canine teams to intercept illegal drugs. The agency currently has over 80 detector dog teams located at various ports of entry across Canada.
Health Canada
Health Canada will be launching a new Precursor Chemical Risk Management Unit, to provide better insight into precursor chemicals, distribution channels and enhance monitoring and surveillance to enable timely law enforcement action. Health Canada will also accelerate the regulatory process for banning precursors, enabling border and law enforcement to take swift action to prevent their illegal importation and use.
Health Canada is also creating a new Canadian Drug Profiling Centre. The Centre which will complete specialized analysis of synthetic drug samples, going beyond identifying the components of a sample and looking at markers to help determine how and where these substances were manufactured.
Introducing significant new tools for law enforcement
The Government of Canada intends to introduce cutting edge technology and additional people at the border to quickly and efficiently detect and protect.
The RCMP will deploy a new Aerial Intelligence Task Force which is comprised of helicopters, drones, and mobile surveillance towers. The counter-drone technology will support RCMP officers and provide surveillance between ports of entry.
In addition, Public Safety Canada is leading the establishment of a Joint Intelligence Group, including new investments to expand the RCMP and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE)'s intelligence collection capacity, enabling the Government to target transnational organized crime and fentanyl trafficking more effectively. Finally, the RCMP will pull together resources from law enforcement and the financial sector and leverage existing activities, enhancing cooperation and information sharing on sophisticated money laundering schemes.
As such, the Government of Canada is also investing in augmenting the RCMP's border integrity program. With new investments the RCMP will be better positioned to patrol, detect, respond, and investigate north and south bound criminal threats along the CAN-US border between the ports of entry.
New legislative requirements proposed in the Fall Economic Statement 2024 will expressly obligate port owners and operators to provide the CBSA, free of charge, with the space and facilities needed to conduct export inspections, just as they currently do for imports.
Improving operational coordination
The Government of Canada is working to improve our operational coordination in two important ways; firstly, through the coordination of the federal government with our provinces, territories and local law enforcement and secondly, through our coordination with the United States on our enhanced border protocols.
Operational coordination with the United States
Since January 6, 2025 the CBSA adjusted the hours of service at land ports of entry across Canada (mirroring the same posture from the United States). Determined in collaboration with the United States, this will enhance overall security for both countries and it will allow both countries to use its resources more efficiently by deploying officers at busier ports of entry.
Additionally, the CBSA has announced its intent to establish its first-ever preclearance operation in the United States later this year. Preclearance will expedite the flow of legitimate travel and trade and enhance border security by identifying threats earlier in the process and before they arrive in Canada. Canada will be the only country to have preclearance operations in the United States.
Work is underway to establish a Canada-United States enforcement Strike Force on Fentanyl, based on a proven model where resources from multiple jurisdictions work together seamlessly; multinational law enforcement collaborations have proven to be a powerful response to challenges at the border.
Expanding information sharing
By increasing opportunities to share important and relevant intelligence about border interceptions, Canadian and American officials will be able to better identify and take stronger action against those who seek to abuse our immigration system.
This will further:
- Increase monitoring of illegal migration trends
- Improve resource planning and deployment; and
- Ultimately, better target and disrupt transnational organized crime groups involved in illegal border crossings
The Government of Canada will build on the information and intelligence sharing that takes place between our federal, provincial, territorial authorities, the United States and other international partners. For example, the High Risk Child Sex Offender Database Act was brought into force on December 31, 2024, allowing the RCMP to begin creating the public database which United States law enforcement partners will be able to access once complete.
Enhanced information sharing will allow authorities to identify, monitor and collaborate with partners to intercept high-risk individuals attempting to travel between countries.
Minimizing unnecessary border volumes
The Government's Border Plan takes important steps to address immigration matters that are diverting resources away from important enforcement activities at the border. This means taking action to limit who can get into Canada – and who can stay. It also means taking a hard look at our asylum system and ensuring it works to protect those who genuinely need it – while ensuring we have the tools to remove from Canada those who don't.
In order to further enhance the CBSA's removal capabilities, the Government of Canada has provided funding for the CBSA to increase the rate at which it removes inadmissible people from Canada, which has seen a recent increase in the number of removals undertaken, the most in a decade. The highest priority for removals will continue to be based on safety and security grounds, including for national security reasons, organized crime, crimes against humanity, and criminals.
New measures have been introduced to reduce the cost burden of removing inadmissible people from the country by increasing the fees that individuals will have to pay if they want to return to Canada. This change establishes a cost recovery framework that is more in line with the current costs of removals and encourages voluntary compliance with removal orders. From January 1 to October 31, 2024, the CBSA removed over 14,000 inadmissible foreign nationals.
The CBSA has also ended the practice of flagpoling for work and study permits at the border. Flagpoling occurs when foreign nationals who hold temporary resident status in Canada, leave Canada immediately to access immigration services at a port of entry.
This practice has taken up significant resources at the border, diverting Canadian and American officers away from important enforcement activities and slows cross-border traffic. These changes benefit Canada and the United States by allowing both countries to effectively manage border operations, maintaining the integrity of our shared border.
Ongoing Border Related efforts
Government of Canada departments and agencies have a long history of focused, collaborative work across Canada, as well as with American and global counterparts, to maintain a safe and effective border.
The Cross-Border Crime Forum (CBCF)
Canada and the United States meet annually for the CBCF, a joint Ministerial forum hosted by Public Safety Canada, Justice Canada, the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Homeland Security. It brings together senior law enforcement and justice officials from various organizations in Canada and the United States to discuss security, law enforcement, and intelligence partnership that are centered on protecting public safety.
In addition to the CBCF, Canadian and American officials and operators' participate in a variety of other forums to discuss cooperation and collaboration.
Strengthen the Immigration and Asylum Systems
The Government of Canada has already taken significant steps to strengthen the integrity of Canada's immigration and asylum systems and combat fraud. To do this, we:
- Introduced an Additional Protocol to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) in partnership with the United States to expand the application of the STCA to the entire land border, including internal waterways. The number of asylum claims from people crossing illegally has dropped from an average of 165 per day in March 2023 to 12 per day since then.
- Cancelled the visitor-to-worker public policy, which has been used by nefarious actors to mislead and mistreat foreign nationals.
- Implemented a partial visa requirement for Mexican nationals to reduce the high number of asylum claims, most of which were refused, withdrawn or abandoned. This change has largely reduced claims from Mexican citizens at airports across the country.
- Put in place measures to manage the volume of temporary resident arrivals and uphold the integrity of our immigration system, including:
- reforming the International Student Program
- ending post-graduation work permit 'flagpoling'
- introducing new measures to address fraud in Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program
- tightening eligibility requirements for
- Heightened screening and enhanced tools to detect fraud and reduce the number of non-genuine visitors to Canada, while re-examining and taking action on visas already in circulation when fraud is suspected.
Securing the Canada-U.S. Border: Actions and Outcomes to Date.
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