Evidence of meeting #69 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cbsa.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
We are going to broaden the base at land borders in terms of the exchange with the Americans. In addition, there will be a new way of collecting information on air travel, strictly for the Government of Canada.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Okay. Even that will be done with the same memoranda, to an extent.
Mr. Dubourg brought up the events that happened on the border this summer. I would like to go into that more deeply.
Do you have recent figures for us today about the number of illegal migrants that we have received on the border to this point?
Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
I do not have those figures with me, but I will be happy to provide them to you as soon as I get back to my office.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Okay.
Do you feel that you have enough human resources to deal with this influx?
Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
The agency has used the resources it has. We have deployed resources from other regions. They have come to help mostly at our crossing at Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, where we receive most of the people. People from other regions are providing us with assistance even today.
Of course, we re-evaluate our needs on a daily basis. As you know, the number of people crossing between points of entries fluctuates each day. We make sure that we have enough resources to deal with the influx.
Conservative
Conservative
Liberal
Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB
Thank you to our guests this afternoon.
I want to circle back on one thing with respect to the number of phones being searched. I read somewhere—and I do apologize; I don't have it in front of me—that the number of phones being searched is growing exponentially. It went from 5,000 to 50,000 to so many thousands per month.
Do you have any information on the growth of searches that you're doing?
Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
I think the number you may be referring to—because I saw the same thing in the media—is information coming from the United States.
Unfortunately, in Canada, the CBSA doesn't make any distinctions between a secondary examination that is limited to questions to a traveller, to luggage searches, to other searches. As I said earlier, because of the interest in this question, I've asked my team to come up with a procedure so we can track systematically and with rigour those specific examinations.
Liberal
Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB
Thank you.
I had an experience recently crossing the American border when we were asked to leave our phones in our vehicle. They were obviously searched because we had to open them. Are you obligated to tell people that you went through their phones? In other words, if a phone was left in the car and you took the phone, are you obligated to tell those people that you searched their cellphone?
Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
I can't speak to U.S. policies. I can tell you that the CBSA policy is that officers are instructed as to what they can do and how they can do it. The fact that we need to ask the traveller for the password and have the ability to unlock the phone ourselves wouldn't be done without your knowledge that we're going through your cellphone.
Liberal
Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB
Is it just a physical manual search of the phone? Is the phone hooked up to devices? How do you search a phone?
Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
I think it's really important that it's made very clear what we do. Essentially, we take the phone, have the passenger provide us with the password to unlock it, and the first thing we do is put it in airplane mode.
Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
Because if there is evidence on the phone and I turn it back to the traveller, there's a possibility that the evidence will disappear. Our officers will deactivate the Wi-Fi, any network connection. When it's on airplane mode—you've travelled—there is no cellphone provider, no Wi-Fi, there's nothing. It's only what's on the phone. Then the officer will go through the phone, depending on what he's looking for, based on what he was able to gather during the interview with the traveller.
Liberal
Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB
Sure. I don't think it's any secret to anybody here that our lives are on our phones now. It's more than just texts. It's our banking information, our insurance information, what have you.
I read an article recently and the headline was that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will start collecting social and search data on every immigrant's phone coming into the U.S., and that includes naturalized citizens, those with a green card, etc. What are your thoughts? Do you think that's overkill? Obviously we're in a climate where the borders are certainly being tightened up with our friends to the south. Do you think that's too much? What are your plans for immigrants coming into Canada?
Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
This is not the CBSA's policy. We're not contemplating something similar to what you describe is occurring in the U.S.
It would be inappropriate for me to comment on U.S. legislation, laws, and policies. They are a sovereign country. They can legislate the way they want.
Vice-President, Programs Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
It's for our front line. We have 5,800 border services officers who protect the border every day. Striking the right balance between facilitation and security in the threat environment in which we operate, and it's no different for the screening officer for CATSA, is a daily challenge. It's not an easy job today, because if you miss one, you're doomed.
It's striking the right balance, but I can tell you that we're very clear and our officers understand that. Everything we do, we do through a privacy lens. We're very mindful of that.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Zimmer
Thank you to the witnesses.
From a person who travels a lot, we appreciate what you do in keeping us safe. It's always a balance between getting too much information and not enough. We appreciate your service and your members' service to us as members of Parliament and travellers.
Thank you for coming today.
I'll suspend for five minutes until we have our next witnesses come in.