Minister Blair responds to the 2020 Spring Report of the Auditor General of Canada

OTTAWA – July, 8, 2020 – Today, the Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, issued the following statement:

“We thank the Auditor General for her Spring 2020 report, containing a chapter that examined how effective the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has been in removing foreign nationals who have no legal right to remain in Canada.

We accept all the recommendations made by the Auditor General in her report, and we are committed to taking action to do better.

The CBSA will take specific measures to address concerns raised and it has already taken steps to better deliver on its mandate in relation to removals. In addition to improving its removals strategy, the CBSA will also enhance the way it tracks and triages cases to ensure priority cases are actioned quickly. This includes continuing to implement a data integrity strategy to ensure that it can quickly identify the stages all cases are at so they can move forward in a timely fashion. The CBSA is taking steps to locate foreign nationals whose whereabouts are unknown by completing a review of all outstanding cases, prioritizing criminal cases, and focusing investigations on the most concerning cases. Finally, the CBSA will develop an incentive program to increase voluntary compliance.

The timely removal of individuals who have exhausted all legal avenues of appeal and due process plays a critical role in supporting the integrity of Canada’s immigration system and contributes to the Government of Canada’s security and public safety priorities.”