Canada Border Services Agency

Canada Border Services Agency
Agence des services frontaliers du Canada
Badge of the CBSA[1]
Shoulder flash of the CBSA
Coat of arms of the CBSA
Flag of the CBSA[2]
Common nameBorder Services
AbbreviationCBSA (French: ASFC)
MottoProtectio Servitium Integritas
(Latin for 'Protection, Service, Integrity')[1]
Agency overview
Formed12 December 2003
Preceding agencies
  • Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (customs)
  • Citizenship and Immigration Canada (enforcement branch)
  • Canadian Food Inspection Agency (port of entry examination)
Employees17,226[3]
Annual budgetCA$2.2 billion[4]
Jurisdictional structure
Federal agencyCanada
Operations jurisdictionCanada
Governing bodyPublic Safety Canada
Constituting instruments
General nature
  • Federal law enforcement
Operational structure
HeadquartersOttawa, Ontario
Elected officer responsible
  • Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety
Agency executive
  • Erin O’Gorman, President
Regions
8
  • National Headquarters: Ottawa
  • Pacific Region: British Columbia & Yukon
  • Prairie Region: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba & Northwest Territories
  • Windsor/St. Clair Region
  • Niagara/Fort Erie Region
  • Greater Toronto Region
  • Northern Ontario Region: Northern Ontario & Nunavut
  • Quebec Region: Quebec
  • Atlantic Region: Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Labrador
Website
www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; French: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ASFC) is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and customs services in Canada.[5][6]

The CBSA is responsible to Parliament through the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness. It is under the direction of Erin O’Gorman, who is the president of the agency.[7][8]

The CBSA was created on 12 December 2003 by an order-in-council that amalgamated the customs function of the now-defunct Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, the enforcement function of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (now known as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada), and the port-of-entry examination function of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).[9] The CBSA's creation was formalized by the Canada Border Services Agency Act,[10] which received Royal assent on 3 November 2005.[9]

The CBSA oversees approximately 1,200 service locations across Canada and 35 in other countries. It employs over 16,500 public servants and offers 24-hour service at 117 of its land border crossings and 10 of the 13 international airports it serves.[7] It works closely with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to enforce immigration laws by facilitating the removal of inadmissible individuals from the country and assisting local police in the investigation of violations of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

CBSA's Inland Enforcement branch tracks down and removes foreign nationals who are in Canada illegally.

The agency oversees operations at three major sea ports and three CBSA mail centres (CMC),[11] and operates detention facilities, known as immigration holding centres (IHC), in Laval, Quebec; Toronto, Ontario; and Surrey, British Columbia.[12]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference GG was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Flag was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Population of the federal public service by department". 12 July 2012.
  4. ^ "GC InfoBase". www.tbs-sct.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  5. ^ Our Service Commitment (PDF). Canada Border Services Agency. ISBN 978-0-660-02134-8.
  6. ^ "What we do". June 2006. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Who we are". 18 May 2006. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  8. ^ "Canada Border Services Agency". 14 October 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Information about Programs and Information Holdings (formerly Info Source)". Canada Border Services Agency. 30 June 2014.
  10. ^ Canada Border Services Agency Act. Laws.justice.gc.ca. Retrieved on 2013-07-12.
  11. ^ CBSA mail centres
  12. ^ Immigration holding centres