For years, the Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA’s) efforts, in lockstep with counterparts in the U.S., have ensured that the extensive travel and business ties between both countries have remained viable and extremely productive. It has also helped to keep both countries safe and 2024 was no exception.
In 2024, CBSA border services officers oversaw a daily flow of about 400,000 people and billions of dollars in goods and services crossing the land border between Canada and the U.S. Here are some of the highlights of their efforts over the last year.
Vigilant allies in a world increasingly fraught with violence and tension
Our relationship does not just help our communities prosper, it keeps them safe.
Canada’s first line of defence at 1,200 ports of entry across the country has around 8,500 frontline personnel who play a crucial role every day protecting our communities by stopping the flow of illegal goods and inadmissible people across our shared border. The CBSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP’s) collaboration on intelligence and operations is giving us an edge in the war on drugs and this includes fentanyl and its precursors. For its part, the CBSA is continuously strengthening its ability to detect opioids through enhanced inspection techniques at ports of entry and the use of detector dogs and emerging technologies.
Keeping our U.S. partners abreast of key intel and new developments and vice versa is helping each country curtail criminal and terrorist activity, all of which contributes to a more secure North American perimeter.
The CBSA protects communities on both sides of the border by catching harmful goods and people and works closely with its partners, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other Canadian police agencies, provincial and territorial governments, U.S. CBP, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The numbers speak for themselves
Between January 1 and October 31, 2024, the CBSA:
- Made approximately 7,700 weapons and firearms seizures at ports of entry, which kept more than 15,600 weapons and 850 firearms off our streets.
- Seized over 25,600 kg of illegal drugs (both inbound and outbound) that threaten communities on both sides of the border.
- Intercepted over 15,000 kg of cannabis and 547,000 kg of undeclared tobacco, preventing millions of dollars in revenue evasion and combatting organized crime.
- Reunited 26 missing or abducted children with their parents or legal guardians as part of the Our Missing Children Program, which is double the 2023 number. Since the program was created in 1986, the CBSA has helped reunite 2,054 missing children with their loved ones.
- Conducted more than 28,600 searches by Detector Dog Service Teams, intercepting over 17,000 high-risk food, plant and animal products, drugs, firearms and currency.
- Issued nearly 2,500 penalties totalling $2,136,200 for food, plant and animal import violations.
- Intercepted 2,070 stolen vehicles before they were shipped abroad, almost 500 more than last year. Police across Canada lead investigations into vehicle theft, and the CBSA acts on 100% of referrals from them and on its own intelligence to stop stolen vehicles from leaving the country, disrupting a key revenue stream for organized crime.
- Processed almost 4.5 million commercial trucks into Canada, which is on par with volumes in 2023.
- Assessed over $136.4 million in anti-dumping and countervailing duties by administering the Special Import Measures Act (SIMA), upholding the priority of both our countries to protect our industries and our jobs from unfair trade practices.
- Reinforced the integrity of our shared border by identifying almost 34,000 foreign nationals seeking to enter Canada at a port of entry along the land border with the U.S. whom CBSA officers believed to be inadmissible. This has increased about 30% from 25,500 in 2023.
- Enforced the rules of our immigration system by removing over 14,000 foreign nationals from Canada for violating the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
- Supported the implementation of temporary measures recently announced by the Government of Canada to help reunite eligible Indigenous people in the U.S. with their families in Canada. These measures are available while the Government of Canada continues to work towards a more enduring solution to address Indigenous border mobility challenges.
- Helped facilitate the repatriation and rematriation (video) of Indigenous cultural items and regalia, such as a Sit Game from a museum in the United States to the Gitxaala First Nation and a woman’s headdress from England to the Siksika First Nation.
To learn more about the CBSA’s efforts and accomplishments in 2024, read its 2024 Year in review: CBSA protecting Canadians and supporting our economy – Canada.ca
Watch how the CBSA is taking action to protect our shared border.
To learn more about Canada’s Border Plan, backed by an investment of $1.3 billion including $355.4 million for the CBSA, read: Government of Canada announces its plan to strengthen border security and our immigration system – Canada.ca.
To keep up to date on our efforts and latest border developments, follow the CBSA on:
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