Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As stated, I am Aaron McCrorie. I am the vice-president for intelligence and enforcement at the CBSA. It's a pleasure to be here today.
Beyond the CBSA's role of processing people and goods at the physical border, the CBSA is responsible for enforcing Canada's border legislation, including the Customs Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
This responsibility includes conducting criminal investigations into alleged offences under border legislation. It is within this investigative purview that the CBSA uses digital forensics hardware and software in order to unlock and decrypt seized digital devices and subsequently search for evidence of offences. I like to think of it as using a locksmith to open a locked box that has evidence within it.
Devices examined by the CBSA's digital forensics teams have been seized pursuant to specific court orders such as search warrants or judicial authorizations issued to CBSA investigators. The data extracted from seized digital devices is processed only within the CBSA's own digital forensic laboratories and is provided only to those having lawful authority to access that data.
We are currently governing our use of this using the privacy information bank, which outlines clearly the types of information that we are gathering and the uses that we put it to.
We are also in the process of working with our internal partners on a privacy impact assessment. We started that work in 2020. Unfortunately, it was delayed for a number of reasons. We are continuing that work and will be engaging with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner to finalize that privacy impact assessment.
I'd also like to clarify that spyware is typically defined as software installed in a device for the purposes of covertly intercepting, monitoring and/or gathering a user's activities or data. I want to assure the committee and the Canadian public that digital forensic tools utilized by the CBSA's investigators are not spyware. We use digital forensics hardware and software to unlock and decrypt seized digital devices as an important tool in our efforts to enforce border-related legislation and to protect Canadians.
I want to assure the committee members again that only properly trained investigators acting with judicial authorization use this technology.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.