Public Safety Committee on Sept. 23rd, 2025

[Jamie McGowan]

No, there were not.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

Thank you, Mr. Lloyd, for these important questions.

I will now turn to Madame Dandurand.

[Marianne Dandurand, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being with us.

I have to tell you that I live in a border region, the riding of Compton—Stanstead. You will probably recognize the name Stanstead. I'm particularly wondering about the impact of the closure of Roxham Road on operations at border crossings.

What's going on? I know you're not an immigration expert, but how do you go from one side to the other? Are you seeing any impacts on border crossings, and if so, what are they?

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

I think that question is more for the Canada Border Services Agency.

[Aaron McCrorie]

I'll try to answer the question.

With the new protocol for the safe third country agreement, which effectively closed Roxham Road as a point of entry, we have seen a small shift of people going to the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle crossing instead.

What's interesting is that the overall numbers, I think, went down considerably for irregular crossings into Canada. What we've seen in 2025 is about 42% decline in the number of people making asylum claims. However, at Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle through this year, there's been a small increase. Last year, we had about 6,000 people make asylum claims at Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle. This year, the number is 13,000. That's at just that particular boarding crossing.

Nationally, we had 47,000 asylum claims last year. This year, it's down to 27,000. Therefore, the STCA's new protocol shifted people away from illegal crossing between the ports. It hasn't eliminated it, but it has shifted people away from it. They've now moved to regular ports of entry.

At Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, in particular, we saw a little uptick through the spring into the summer, but not a huge increase compared to what we were seeing three or four years ago.

[Marianne Dandurand, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Thank you very much.

Along the same lines, what are the main threats identified at border crossings from the United States?

There's a lot of talk about the threat to the United States from fentanyl coming from Canada. However, what threats are coming from the United States, particularly at border crossings like the ones in my region, which are smaller, particularly in the context of some border crossings that are now closed at night?

So what threats are we currently facing?

Also, could you give me an idea of the relative magnitude of the threats? Is it mostly immigration or weapons, for example? Is it really happening in small regions like mine?

I'd like to hear your perspective on that

[Sean McGillis]

Thank you for the question.

I will start from an RCMP perspective, but I think there's probably a CBSA element to this answer as well.

Between the ports of entry, we definitely see that the corridor along the Quebec border remains probably the most intense part of the country in terms of illegal crossings. Most of what we are seeing does not involve firearms and does not involve drug trafficking, although we do encounter those types of interdictions when we're going on our response calls. We work very closely with our U.S. counterparts in border patrol on the American side and have integrated operations with them to ensure we are doing what we can. As well, we are using our technology to detect and deter any illegal migration that is coming across between the ports of entry in that region.

As my colleague mentioned, the numbers are down. I don't see threats from the people who are coming across the border, necessarily. These are typically people who are seeking asylum, and we're largely seeing the same populations or nationalities coming across. Haitian, Venezuelan and Colombian are the top three nationalities that are coming across the border illegally, seeking opportunities for asylum claims. These are not threats per se from a national security perspective but are definitely something we are monitoring from an illegal entry perspective.

[Aaron McCrorie]

I would echo that we're not seeing any national security threats from the people coming to make asylum claims, either the ones brought to us by the RCMP or the ones showing up at a port of entry, although we do assess every individual for the threat they may pose.

In terms of contraband, the way I'd frame it is that transnational organized crime is exploiting the border both ways. Canada is a market for drugs, so we're seeing cocaine coming into the country, sometimes from the United States and sometimes from other places. Canada is a source of drugs; we're actually an exporter of cannabis. Canada is also a transshipment point. There's not a unidirectional threat; we're seeing threats moving both ways. That really emphasizes why it's so important for us to work with our colleagues in the RCMP, for example, but also with our colleagues in Customs and Border Protection, with whom we'll collaborate on targeting initiatives, or our colleagues in the Australian Border Force, as some of our biggest meth seizures have been the result of working with them.

The threats are going both ways when it comes to contraband, and it really emphasizes why we need to collaborate.

[Marianne Dandurand, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

That leads me to another question.

In my neck of the woods, there are communities that live on the border. What kind of discussions are being held with the United States to ensure that these people can continue to circulate relatively freely? It seems as though the communities are increasingly being shut down.

In terms of public safety, are you having discussions with your American counterparts to see how we can manage these situations?

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

Please answer quickly, Mr. McCrorie. We can come back to it later if we need more details.

[Aaron McCrorie]

The short answer is yes. We collaborate very much with our U.S. counterparts. Our colleague Rob Chambers, who's vice-president of the travellers branch, works very closely with his U.S. counterparts around coordinating hours of service.

The CBSA has a dual mandate. On the one hand, there's a security mandate to stop bad goods and people from coming into the country, but on the other hand there is a facilitation mandate. We try to find the right balance between the two.

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

Indeed, the link with American collaboration is quite relevant. We can explore this aspect further a little later.

I now give the floor to Mrs. DeBellefeuille.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would like to welcome the witnesses and thank them for their presentations.

I want to start with a quick question for the RCMP.

I, too, am in a border riding. Almost all irregular crossings are in my riding, in southern Quebec. I'm thinking of Hemmingford, Franklin, Dundee and Akwesasne.

Leasing helicopters costs the RCMP nearly $5 million. Is it planning to buy helicopters and stop leasing them?

[Sean McGillis]

Thank you very much for the question. I will try to answer it in French.

Currently, we have a contract with two different companies for the three helicopters. We are in the process of developing a plan not to buy, but to lease. The next step is to lease the helicopters. We're trying to lease four. Ultimately, we don't have enough money to buy the helicopters, because they're very expensive. Right now, it's better for us to lease the helicopters with the equipment.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

That’s perfect, thank you very much.

My next question is for the Canada Border Services Agency.

We know that it takes 18 weeks to train border officers who have the authority to enforce the Customs Act. In your statement, you said that 1,000 officers would be added by the end of the year. We know that the capacity of Rigaud college is around 581 officers. We also know that roughly the same number leave through natural attrition.

Are you informing the committee that another category of border officers will be created? Can I make that assumption?

[Aaron McCrorie]

I must correct your assumption.

There is indeed a plan to hire 1,000 border officers, but we are not yet in the process of doing so. This year, we have hired 30 new officers for removals.

[Jennifer Lutfallah, Vice-President, Commercial and Trade Branch, Canada Border Services Agency]

I'm going to add to what my colleague said.

Under the border action plan, we are hiring 36 new border officers. Those officers are already in training, and we anticipate that they will be sent to the front line in March. I just want to point out that these individuals will be people whom you would see at a booth when you first enter Canada. As a result, they will be replacing more senior officers, whom we will then take and train on detection technology.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Mr. Chair, I don’t want to interrupt the witnesses, but I would ask you to allow a few more seconds for the answers. Since French is a bit laborious, it takes a little more time.

My question was clear. The government has committed to hiring 1,000 border officers who can enforce the Customs Act. What I am asking you is how you are going to achieve this by the end of the year when, mathematically, it is impossible.

Are you creating a new category of officers who will not carry weapons, for example, to help you meet the government’s hiring commitment?

[Aaron McCrorie]

Again, the plan is not to hire 1,000 new agents this fiscal year. We are developing a plan to hire 1,000 agents, and we'll have to plan out what that looks like in terms of hiring new agents over a period of time.

The plan this year was to hire—

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Excuse me for interrupting. I will clarify my question.

Every year, 580 border officers are trained and approximately 580 leave. I am not a mathematician, but I know that adds up to zero.

The plan to hire 1,000 officers is spread over three years. How are you going to achieve this goal if you hire border officers who have the power to enforce the law?

What I am asking you is whether there is a plan to develop another category of border officers who would not have the power to enforce the law or carry a weapon, but who could carry out monitoring and surveillance activities.

[Aaron McCrorie]

No, the plan will not be to create a new category of border services officer. We will look at how we increase their throughput through the college, but not all of the people we will be hiring are necessarily going to go through the college. For example, criminal investigators don't necessarily come from the ranks of the BSOs. They may come from other policing agencies, for example, so we'll hire people in that way.

Where we need people to work at the border, the plan is to put them through the college as we normally do. We recognize that, with attrition, we have to increase our throughput through the college, and we're working through that plan now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

Mrs. DeBellefeuille, you may ask one last question.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

There was a plan to create a new campus in Chilliwack, British Columbia, to accelerate officer training. Will this project go ahead? Has the agency selected this project in order to increase the number of border officers trained to enforce the act?

[Aaron McCrorie]

We're considering all of our options for how to increase that throughput. We haven't reached any determination yet. We're working through that as we speak.