Misconduct Investigations and Disciplinary Measures Statistics

The CBSA is a law enforcement agency made up of professionals who are trained to carry out their responsibilities with respect, integrity, honesty and accountability. Our employees are responsible for conducting themselves at all times in a way that upholds the public interest and is in keeping with the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector and the CBSA Code of Conduct.

CBSA Professional Standards reviews allegations of Code of Conduct violations by CBSA employees, and conducts formal Professional Standards Investigations as required; and provides direction to management on conducting less complex investigations. The findings of these investigations are provided to CBSA Labour Relations who, in turn, take appropriate action when there is evidence of misconduct.

The following chart provides statistical information on the number of both management-led and professional standards investigations conducted and their outcomes.

Misconduct Investigations
Year Unfounded Founded InconclusiveFootnote *
84 212 18
50 190 21
75 215 23
33 171 8
81 255 10
53 224 8
39 166 15
29 133 17
28 106 12

When misconduct arises and it is determined that disciplinary measures are necessary, these are meant to be corrective in nature rather than punitive. Disciplinary measures are intended to motivate employees to adopt appropriate behaviour and encourage them to adhere to the high standards of conduct that the Agency has identified as necessary to deliver on its mandate. In certain cases, however, transgressions warrant termination.

The following chart provides statistics on the disciplinary measures that were taken for the entire Agency.

Disciplinary Measures
Year Oral Reprimand Written Reprimand Suspension 5 days and less Suspension
More than 5 days
Termination/ Demotion
27 57 36 14 10
26 55 31 19 7
27 52 63 19 9
18 83 62 28 6
22 59 51 28 4
29 104 86 29 3
32 99 94 35 7
22 109 122 33 2
21 55 77 25 12

About the numbers:

  1. Not all cases involving disciplinary measures are the result of a management-led or professional standards investigation.
  2. Investigations statistics are entered after a case has concluded. Instances where an investigation spans two calendar years will be counted in the year that a decision is rendered.
  3. In keeping with the Privacy Act, information on individual cases will not be released.
  4. While one incident of misconduct is one incident too many, these numbers need to be understood in the context of a population of over 14,000 employees.
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