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Opening remarks

John Ossowski, President Canada Border Services Agency

Standing Committee on Public Accounts
Spring 2020 Auditor General report

Removals

November 24, 2020, 11 am to 1 pm

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Introduction

Good morning Madam Chair and members of the committee. With me today, I have my Vice President of Intelligence & Enforcement, Scott Harris.

I would like to thank the OAG for its report and confirm that the Public Safety Minister has accepted all of the findings and recommendations.

Removals inventory

The removal process plays a critical role in supporting Canada’s immigration and refugee determination continuum, and contributes to the Government of Canada’s public safety and security priorities.

These processes are complex, and not linear, and as a result the inventories that the CBSA maintains are constantly changing to reflect that individuals are at different stages of these processes given the recourse available in our Canadian system of determination.

The various recourse mechanisms available to some or all applicants include at the IRB, judicial review, humanitarian and compassionate relief, Ministerial Relief and UN bodies such as the United Nations Committee Against Torture. The Auditor General report focused on the various CBSA inventories of foreign nationals involved in these processes.

As of November 2020, about 217,000 people were in our inventory. Of these, about 149,000 were in the monitoring inventory — meaning that they were not eligible to be removed for various reasons. 165,000 were in the monitoring and stayed inventory and not eligible to be removed.

Of the 217,000, just over 18,000 are in our working inventory but have impediments to their removal and I will speak to some of those impediments in a moment.  This leaves a total of 4,175 individuals that could be removed.

A secure border

I want to assure this Committee that everyone that comes to the border is screened by our Border Services Officers.  Our BSOs have the authority, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, to deal with potentially inadmissible visitors. No one leaves the border until and unless we are confident that they do not pose a risk to Canadians, otherwise we pursue other options including detention.

But our efforts aren’t just at the border. We assess and reassess risk throughout the process, and have the ability to detain those that present an unacceptable danger to the public.

When it comes to removals, CBSA prioritizes the cases in its inventory.  However, as I indicated, there are variables in our immigration and refugee determination process that require us to constantly prioritize and remove individuals from our inventories.

Another significant factor that presents a challenge for removals is our dependence on other countries to provide the travel documents required to have their foreign nationals returned. We depend on cooperation and coordination with these countries, for example, on the specific requirements for the identification documents, so removals can take place.

Border data integrity and management

The Agency is working with partners on making enhancements to systems to improve our ability to manage data related to removals. The COVID 19 pandemic’s impact on international travel allowed us to focus our efforts on reviewing our inventories of cases and conducting business that requires desk investigations or is more administrative in nature, all in support of the program.

As part of its overall case management strategy, the CBSA employs a number of electronic resources to track files along the immigration continuum. The CBSA also uses an inventory management system to help guide the monitoring of files along with the associated resource allocation.

In addition, with new entry and exit controls in place, we have greater access to much better information about travellers who leave Canada, either by land or air, which has had a positive impact on our ability to keep on top of warrants for removals.

Conclusion

Madam Chair, let me assure you that the CBSA is focused on the recommendations coming out of the Auditor General’s report, so that Canada maintains its strong reputation as a fair and welcoming country, but one that is also governed by the rule of law.

Thank you.

Storyline: removals

Overview

The Auditor General (AG) examined how effective the Agency has been enforcing removals and tabled its report in Parliament on July 8, 2020.  The AG found that the CBSA has not been doing enough to enforce removals in a timely manner, has issues with poor case management and data quality, and is unable to locate many foreign nationals who are subject to a removal order. The Agency agreed with the AG’s findings. The Agency is making progress in implementing its comprehensive Management Action Plan. While there are many challenges to timely removals, the CBSA recognizes and is demonstrating that more can be done to increase the number of removals, focusing on the highest-priority cases.

Enforcing removals: challenges

The CBSA takes action to remove individuals only once all legal avenues of recourse are exhausted at the end of a multi-step, non-linear, and legally-prescribed continuum which involves various applications to Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada and the Immigration and Refugee Board, as well as the Federal Court of Canada. This is in order to ensure compliance with the removal order and thereby the integrity of the program.

The Auditor General found that the vast majority, three-quarters of 216,000, removal orders at any given time are unenforceable, either awaiting a judicial decision, being processed for permanent residency, or are subject to a legislative stay. Moreover, many unenforceable cases never become enforceable as they involve individuals who make an asylum claim and later receive a positive refugee determination or are convention refugees pending Permanent Resident status. Of the 216,000, 51,000 are enforceable. About 33,500 of these individuals have failed to appear for a removal proceeding and an arrest warrant is issued while we work to located them. Of the remaining 18,423 whose whereabouts are known and are ready to begin the removals process, the agency prioritizes these removals on safety and security grounds, including for national security reasons, organized crime, crimes against humanity and criminals. The Agency also prioritizes removals for failed refugee claimants who arrive between ports of entry due to their impact on the integrity of Canada’s asylum system.

However, the Agency is not always able to remove an individual simply because their whereabouts are known and they have reached the end of legal recourse. As a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, all scheduled removals were postponed on March 15, 2020 and largely continue to be suspended.

CBSA management action plan

The CBSA has accepted the AG’s recommendations and is implementing a comprehensive Management Action Plan. The CBSA will enhance the way it tracks and triages cases to ensure priority cases are actioned in a timely way. It is taking steps to locate foreign nationals whose whereabouts are unknown by completing a review of all outstanding cases by December 2020, prioritizing criminal cases, and focusing investigations on the most concerning cases. In partnership with IRCC, the CBSA is working to improve the integrity and accuracy of the data it uses to track removal cases.

The Agency is currently developing a quality assurance process for data that will be ready to operationalize before March 31, 2021. The Agency partnered with IRCC and IRB to launch the Asylum Interoperability Project, and work is ongoing on this  initiative, which  will introduce enhancements to the organizations’ existing case management systems to improve the interface between the three systems to create efficiencies..  We will continue to explore options to encourage voluntary compliance on removals, including the introduction of a Removals Help Line in August 2020, that is already seeing early successes. Finally, we are contributing to whole-of-government efforts to encourage improved cooperation from foreign countries through capacity-building, more effective coordination and increased dialogue.

Progress to date (removal statistics)

These measures will build on progress made to date. In the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year alone, CBSA removed 11,527 people from Canada — the highest number in the previous five years. This number includes all of the various types of removal orders, including departure, exclusion and deportation orders, and all those concluded following an investigation confirming that a person left of their own volition without informing the CBSA.

Additionally, CBSA successfully removed 93 percent of serious inadmissibility cases by the end of the fiscal year. This is an increase from 79% the previous year. Even though the number of inadmissible individuals subject to removal orders has been increasing every year, the number of enforceable cases has remained stable. This means that our efforts to date are beginning to bear fruit.

Despite the many challenges to timely removals, the CBSA continues to work diligently to overcome challenges to removals, with the aim of continuing to increase the number of removals while focusing on the highest priority cases.

Key statistics

Removal orders

As of November 13, 2020, the total number of enforced removals for fiscal year 2020 to 2021 is 6,417 individuals.

The total number of enforced removals for fiscal year 2019 to 2020 is 11,527 individuals.

The total number of enforced removals for fiscal year 2018 to 2019 is 9,695 individuals.

In the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year, the CBSA removed 9,695 individuals from Canada;

In the 2019 to 2020 fiscal year, the CBSA removed 11,527. These represent the highest removal numbers in the last four years for the Agency.

As of November 13, 2020, the CBSA has removed 6,417 individuals for the 2020 to 2021 fiscal year, which has been impacted by a removal stoppage due to COVID-19. The breakdown is as follows:

Total Removals: 6,417

• POE Removals: 382
• Inland Removals: 6,035
  • R240(3) Removals (i.e., Administrative Removals): 4,683
  • Serious inadmissibility cases (ss34, 35, 36 & 37 of IRPA): 129
  • Voluntary (i.e., requested to leave during pandemic): 1,223

Immigration warrants

In 2019, the CBSA Warrant Response Centre received 1,083 calls from local police forces concerning immigration warrants.

Escorted removals

Escorted removals represent approximately 10% of all removals conducted by the agency within the last five fiscal years.

All officers conducting escorted removals are certified in the CBSA’s Use of Force Training, and have taken the CBSA’s Air Mode Transport Training.

Table note: Up to November 12, 2020

Impediments and legal recourse

The single largest impediment, representing approximately 55 to 60% of all impediments, is obtaining travel documents for removal.

Administrative deferral of removals / temporary suspension of removals

Currently, there are administrative deferral of removals (ADRs) in place for 11 countries and temporary suspensions of removal (TSR) in place for 3 countries.

Table note: Data as of November 13, 2020. CBSA systems only capture foreign nationals’ country of origin and cannot specify regional returns within that country.

Table note: Data as of November 13, 2020.

Asylum claimants

Budget 2019 invested $1.18 billion to nearly double the capacity of Canada’s asylum system over the next five years, including additional resources to manage effectively the influx of irregular migrants across Canada’s border. Of this amount, the CBSA received $382 millions over 5 years and $7.3 millions ongoing.

As of November 9, 2020, the CBSA and IRCC have processed 7,797 claims during fiscal year 2020 to 2021, compared to 80,390 claims in fiscal year 2019 to 2020.

Detention

By leveraging Alternatives to Detention available to our officers and by working with the Immigration and Refugee Board, the detention population has significantly declined from 353 persons on March 17, 2020, to 132 persons on November 12, 2020.

On average, prior to the onset of Covid-19, there were approximately 350 individuals detained under the IRPA at any given time. These make up less than 0.02% of foreign travellers, permanent residents and refugees entering Canada per year.

In fiscal yar 2019 to 2020, the number of persons detained increased by 0.5% compared to the previous fiscal year. The slight increase in the number of persons detained is largely attributable to the constant surge of Mexican travellers since the visa requirement for that country was lifted in November 2016, as well as the increase of 1% in the influx of irregular arrivals when compared to last fiscal year. Of the 8,825 persons detained in IHCs and provincial facilities in fiscal year 2019 to 2020, 46% (4,031) were Mexican nationals and 7% had entered Canada between ports of entry. Consistent with the previous year, the largest proportion of persons detained (46%) were held for 24 hours or less. The proportion of persons detained compared to the number of entries by foreign nationals also remains consistent, representing 0.2%.

In year 2019 to 2020, there was an overall increase of 17% in the number of minors housed or detained when compared to the previous fiscal year (118 minors in 2018 to 2019 and 138 in 2019 to 2020). The CBSA also noted an increase of 32% in the number of housed minors (103 minors housed in fiscal year 2018 to 2019 compared to 136 in 2019 to 2020). This increase is attributable to an increased number of travellers, with families of 3 or more children, who entered Canada irregularly between ports of entry. Most of these minors (75%) were accompanying a parent/guardian detained on grounds of identity. The average length of time a minor was housed spent in a facility decreased by nearly 4 days compared to fiscal year 2018 to 2019 (average days for minors housed was 16.9 days). The average for minors detained was 2.5 days.

Of the detention population on November 12, 43 were in an IHC, 86 were in a provincial facility, and 3 were in another type of facility. For reference, although there were 43 individuals in IHCs, the CBSA’s three IHCs have a combined total of almost 400 beds.

As of November 12, 2020, there are no minors in detention.

Inventory overview

• There are currently in excess of 215,000 foreign nationals in Canada that are subject to a removal order that has not been enforced, and has not been voided by the granting of permanent resident status
• The Monitoring Inventory has 148,595 individuals listed as of Nov 12, 2020
  • Approximately 61% of this inventory are foreign nationals that are still pending their refugee determination by the Refugee Protection Division, or appeal at the Refugee Appeal Division, of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB)
  • Approximately 35% of cases are those where the removal order is currently unenforceable which is usually as a result of being granted refugee status
• The Wanted Inventory 33,480 individuals listed as of Nov 12, 2020
• The Stay Inventory 16,039 individuals listed as of Nov 12, 2020
  • Roughly 38% of these cases are included in this inventory due to the imposition of an administrative deferral of removal (ADR) or a temporary suspension of removal (TSR). Almost 13% of these cases are pending decisions for pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA)
• The Working Inventory 18,431 individuals listed as of Nov 12, 2020
  • Approximately 47%, are cases with impediments to removal, such as lacking a travel document

Immigration enforcement continuum

Case with criminality

Table note: The data provided for fiscal year 2020 to 2021 are as of November 12, 2020.

Serious inadmissibility cases represent 6% of the overall removal working inventory with 815 cases out of 13,933.  Of these, 61 cases have no impediments to removal and are being scheduled for their deportation.

Fiscal year 2018 to 2019 removals strategy

As a result of enhanced removal efforts initiated in the 2018-19 fiscal year, the CBSA:

• removed 79% of its serious inadmissibility and criminality cases from the actionable inventory;
• examined 100% of the 2,368 removal orders for those persons that fell within the failed irregular migrant category;
• enforced just under 9,700 removals, which represented a five-year high in total removals, and a 18% increase in total removals from the 2017 to 2018 fiscal year.

Performance objectives

During the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year, the Agency achieved its highest number of removals in four years with 9,695. This achievement represented an 18% increase from the 8,211 removals in the 2017 to 2018 fiscal year.

By the end of March 31,2020, the Agency has surpassed this total with 11,527 enforced removals in fiscal year 2019 to 2020.

The CBSA committed to removing 80% of its actionable inventory of those inadmissible on safety and security grounds and surpassed this objective by reaching 93%.

In fiscal year 2019 to 2020, the DPR outlined the CBSA objective of removing 80% of its actionable inventory of those inadmissible on safety and security grounds. The CBSA surpassed this objective enforcing 93% of its actionable inventory. Other objectives are outlined in the table below.

In fiscal year 2018 to 2019, internal removal projection resumed with expected outcome of 10,000 removals. The Agency enforced 9,695 (97%) removals last fiscal year.

For fiscal year 2019 to 2020 the CBSA has an overall performance objective of 12,552 removals. This internal expected outcome was a 26% increase from the 10,000 objective last fiscal year. The CBSA achieved 92% with 11,527 enforced removals.  The CBSA also committed to removing 4,692 failed refugee claimants and has surpassed this total with 6,860 (100%) enforced failed refugee removals. This sub objective is reported in the Asylum Performance Management Framework.

Countries uncooperative / recalcitrant on removals

Through Budget 2019 the Agency received $382 million over five years to enhance the integrity of Canada’s Borders and Asylum System. We allocated 36.11 million over five years, with $6.9 million of ongoing funding, to implement the International Engagement Strategy.

To date:

• 4 country-specific action plans have been approved, including one complementary plan that targets two countries
• more than 300 engagements have been conducted with officials from various foreign affairs, border management and immigration departments and agencies from these specific countries
• 2 scoping missions (positive incentives) were conducted to identify potential capacity building activities
• pilot projects are in development for two countries that demonstrate strong possibility of yielding short to medium-term returns and continued engagement in spite of the pandemic

Entry/exit initiative

What information is collected for entry/exit in land mode?

• Biographical entry information:
  • First name, Middle name, Last name, Date of birth, Nationality, Gender, Document type, Document number, and Name of the country that issued the travel document
• In addition to the biographic information that Canada and the US currently collect on travellers at ports of entry, the date and time of entry, as well as the port through which the traveller entered, are collected by each country and exchanged to create exit records
• Exit information includes biographical elements, such as:
  • First name, Middle name(s), Last name, Date of birth, Citizenship or nationality, Gender, Travel document type, Document number, and Name of the country that issued the travel document
• In the land mode, information collected includes the date and time of exit, as well as the port through which the traveller exited the country
• In the future, data collected in the air mode will include the date, time and location of departure as well as flight information from the air carriers for passengers leaving Canada on outbound international flights

Assisted voluntary returns pilot program

Budget 2019 provided the CBSA with $21M to design an Assisted Voluntary Return pilot, intended to further expand CBSA strategies to incentivize returns, secure compliance with removal orders and reduce removal costs.

CBSA Detailed Management Response Action Plan : OAG Performance Audit of Immigration Removals

Recommendations

1. CBSA should continue to refine its strategy to ensure the timely enforcement of new and accumulated removal orders, particularly for high-priority cases. To support these efforts, it should regularly track the timeliness of removal against performance targets.
2. CBSA should continue to explore options to encourage voluntary returns and assist the departure of foreign nationals to their country of origin in line with Canada’s international commitments to promote safe and orderly migration.
3. CBSA should improve the integrity of its data and case management practices so that it can better manage the removals program. Specifically, it should:
   • Further check the accuracy of its removal inventory database, with respect to both the status of individual cases and the make-up of its inventory;
   • Establish a clear triage process to assign and initiate action on removal cases according to current status and expected next steps and ensure that cases progress toward removal as soon as possible;
   • Improve its data interface with its partners to know when decisions have been made that affects the status of a removal order;
   • In conjunction with IRCC, establish a process to ensure that any new information entering the database is accurate and timely.

Departmental response (to be included in the report)

Recommendation 1

Agreed. The Agency agrees that it should continue to refine its existing strategies to further ensure the timely removal of those found inadmissible to Canada, particularly for those persons found inadmissible on the most serious grounds, the CBSA’s established highest priority category for removals. The Agency achieved its highest number of removals in four years in 2018-19, as a result of focused efforts to increase removals. This included the implementation of a number of activities including: a whole of government engagement approach to securing timelier issuance of travel documents from foreign governments; regulatory amendments to allow the Agency to confirm the departure status of those believed to have left Canada; the creation of increased reporting capability to better allow the Agency to monitor how long cases have been in its inventories and increased national coordination of the program. Building on this success, the Agency will complete a removals plan to both increase the number of removals, and better track, the timely removal of individuals from Canada, focusing on high priority cases by Q2 2020-21. This will include additional data quality assurance controls.

Recommendation 2

Agreed. While the immigration continuum is predicated on the expectation that individuals who no longer have status in the country, or who have been found inadmissible, will abide by our laws and leave Canada voluntarily, the reality is that a significant number of people fail to do so.  The Agency strongly encourages voluntary compliance and has, accordingly, been working over the past year to establish initiatives specifically designed to support this outcome. This includes both a dedicated information line open to the public to allow individuals to seek information on their removal process and a Departure Incentive Program pilot for which the Agency has already completed an examination of international voluntary compliance models in order to design a Canadian version. The Agency is committed to implementing these initiatives to encourage voluntary compliance with removals. These initiatives will be implemented by Q4 in the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Recommendation 3

The Agency agrees with this recommendation and is committed to focusing its Inland Enforcement resources on removing people in a timely manner, while continuing to prioritize the most serious cases. In conjunction with increased funding provided for the program in Federal Budget 2019, the Agency has established a multi-year removals strategy. This strategy will lead to the implementation of an enhanced triage method to improve case identification and to ensure cases are processed in a timely and efficient manner based on removal priorities. In 2019, the CBSA developed the ability to report more accurately on the length of time cases are in its removal system and will further refine this capacity to ensure it is reflected in processes used to assign cases to its officers. The Agency will also conduct reviews of multiple removal inventories in order to identify and correct data integrity challenges. The Agency will also work with its partners to ensure the timely and accurate input of information in support of removals whether through system upgrades or additional training measures during the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Description of final expected outcome/result

Recommendation 1

A refined removals strategy that further ensures the timely removal of those found to be inadmissible to Canada, with a particular focus on priority cases.

Recommendation 2

A dedicated immigration information help line that provides general and case specific information to foreign nationals. This increases knowledge of the removals program and support voluntary compliance. An implemented Departure Incentive Pilot Program aimed at increasing the cooperation of inadmissible foreign nationals in the removals program by incentivizing their compliance in departing Canada in a timely manner.

Recommendation 3

A formalized quality assurance process that improves data accuracy and support better program management.

Expected final completion date

Recommendation 1

January 30, 2021

Recommendation 2

October 31, 2020

Recommendation 3

March 30, 2021

Key interim milestones (description/dates)

Recommendation 1

1.1   The CBSA will continue to refine the removal strategy to improve oversight of the inventories to increase program efficiencies. This will include a robust national coordination approach to support timely removals and mitigate unnecessary delays. September 30, 2020.

Responsible Organization/ Point of Contact (Name, Position, Tel #)
CBSA
Scott Harris
Vice-President
Intelligence and Enforcement Branch
613-948-4111

1.2   The CBSA will develop performance objectives focused on top removal priorities and timelines for removal to demonstrate continued focus on safety and security cases. This approach will complement the overall expected funded removal totals. This will include an enhanced performance measurement dashboard to monitor progress against expected outcomes. December 7, 2020

Responsible Organization/ Point of Contact (Name, Position, Tel #)
CBSA
Scott Harris
Vice-President
Intelligence and Enforcement Branch
613-948-4111

1.3   The CBSA will determine the necessary IT requirements in order to improve better removal inventories and case management to further support and improve program management and ensure cases with no impediments are quickly removed. January 30, 2021

Responsible Organization/ Point of Contact (Name, Position, Tel #)
Minh Doan
Vice-President
Information, Science and Technology Branch
613-948-9694

1.4    This improved plan includes the development of customizable engagement strategy for high priority countries.
March 31, 2020

Responsible Organization/ Point of Contact (Name, Position, Tel #)
Kathy Thompson
Vice-President
Strategic Policy Branch
613-941-4937

Recommendation 2

2.1   The CBSA has completed the information help line pilot assessment and the deployment of a permanent help line is expected to be implemented in Q1 2020-2021. September 30, 2020

Responsible Organization/ Point of Contact (Name, Position, Tel #)
CBSA
Scott Harris
Vice-President
Intelligence and Enforcement Branch
613-948-4111

2.2   The CBSA has completed a review of voluntary compliance models from international partners. The CBSA will develop options and the approved approach will be piloted across a two-year window. Reporting measurements will support oversight of the pilot.  October 31, 2020

Responsible Organization/ Point of Contact (Name, Position, Tel #)
CBSA
Scott Harris
Vice-President
Intelligence and Enforcement Branch
613-948-4111

Recommendation 3

3.1 The CBSA will establish a sustainable triaging approach, supported by increased national coordination, to ensure that priority cases that enter the working inventory are assigned, processed, and scheduled for removal based on removal priorities. This includes the development of scheduled reports to facilitate file management. March 12, 2021

Responsible Organization/ Point of Contact (Name, Position, Tel #)
CBSA
Scott Harris
Vice-President
Intelligence and Enforcement Branch
613-948-4111

3.2 The CBSA will develop a quality assurance process, supported by regional Operations & Data Integrity Analysts, to improve the quality of data across all regions. This quality assurance initiative will include a data verification strategy both at an individual case and inventory as well as reviews to address systematic errors for correction. March 30, 2021

Responsible Organization/ Point of Contact (Name, Position, Tel #)
CBSA
Scott Harris
Vice-President
Intelligence and Enforcement Branch
613-948-4111

3.3   The CBSA will review current interface challenges and work closely with IRCC to ensure that information transmitted and received via interface is correct and timely. March 30, 2021

Responsible Organization/ Point of Contact (Name, Position, Tel #)
CBSA
Scott Harris
Vice-President
Intelligence and Enforcement Branch
613-948-4111

3.4 a) CBSA and IRCC will continue to work together on the quality assurance reports which will be run on an ongoing basis for the purpose of maintaining the monitoring, oversight, and compliance regime in response to the 2019 OAG Audit of Processing of Asylum Claims and the OAG 2020 Audit of Immigration Removals. A summary of the findings will be presented to the inter-departmental Deputy-level Asylum System Management Board. December 31, 2020

b) IRCC, in consultation with CBSA and Department of Justice, will

a. develop a reporting and oversight mechanism to ensure litigation data entry by Department of Justice officials is completed in a timely manner. September 30, 2020

b. implement the reporting and oversight mechanism to ensure timely data entry. September 30, 2021

Responsible Organization/ Point of Contact (Name, Position, Tel #)
IRCC
Dr. Nicole Giles, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations
613-437-8211

Program funding profile: removals by fiscal year

Table notes:

*In 2017-18 and prior years, Removals (PSSA 56100) was part of Program Activity - Immigration Enforcement. Information at the PSSA level was not published externally. Actuals include Paylist and EBP amounts.

**Starting in 2018-19 the Departmental Results Report was presented based on Core Responsibility. Program Inventories (i.e Removals) were reported using InfoBase based on the Agency's datasheet.

***2019-20 and future years represent the planned spending and FTEs per InfoBase. 2020-21 to 2022-23 Planned Amounts based on the 2020-21 Departmental Plan as published on GCInfobase. The increase in Planned Removals is correlated to the Budget 2019 funding.

Program improvements

Standing Committee on Public Accounts
OAG Audit – E-Commerce

Date: November 19, 2020
Fully releasable (ATIP)?: Yes
Branch: Intelligence and Enforcement

Speaking points

To address the OAG’s recommendations, the CBSA has completed a comprehensive review of its current processes and has already launched several initiatives to improve the removals program.

The CBSA has refined its multi-year removal strategy to increase superior governance and oversight; expand domestic and international partnerships to support timely removals; and introduced data analysis and analytics tools to improve removal results.

This enhanced strategy will maximize removal efforts, with the aim of steadily increasing the number of removals to 15,500 by 2023, while focusing on the highest priority cases.

Similar to previous years, performance objectives will continue to give prominence on removing individuals inadmissible on safety and security grounds. These objectives can be found in the Agency’s Departmental plan. Further, a new performance metric has been introduced to emphasize timely removals.

To increase voluntary compliance, the Agency launched a removal help line on August 10, 2020 to allow the public to speak directly with a CBSA official on case-specific inquiries. To date, this initiative has delivered superior results as several individuals who contacted the removals help line have since voluntarily complied with their removal orders.

The CBSA is also developing an Assisted Voluntary Return Pilot Program based on a comprehensive review of the lessons learned from the previous 2012-15 Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration pilot, and similar international partner voluntary return programs.  The CBSA is confident that this new pilot will incentivize compliance and support the Government of Canada’s need to balance the integrity of both its immigration asylum and enforcement programs.

To increase file management practices, a thorough review has commenced in order to identify and address inefficiencies.  This review will assist in the development of a streamlined triage process to eliminate unnecessary delays by refining the existing manual triage process and support this by using data tools to identify cases that are removal ready as early as possible.

The CBSA has also completed a review of criminal cases subject to an immigration warrant.  All other warrants are currently being reviewed.  This has led to significant increase in arrests, cancellations and ultimately the identification of a number of cases where the people had previously left Canada without notifying the CBSA.

To further improve inventory oversight, a Quality Assurance Program is being developed to increase data quality levels within the removals program. This initiative will ensure that data can be trusted and used to manage the program and to deliver expected results. Data science and analytics tools are also being introduced to support this initiative.

Anticipated questions and answers (committee)

1. How does CBSA plan to address its poor management practices?

The CBSA’s overall management system is very effective, in that the Agency is able to monitor in excess of 220,000 files across the country and between multiple program lines. Nevertheless, there is always room for improvement and, as such, the CBSA had developed an enhanced removal strategy to improve the Removals Program governance and oversight.

This new strategy will support timely removals by improving program governance; maximize staffing flexibility; expand domestic and international partnerships to leverage foreign government cooperation; and introduce data analysis and analytics tools to improve removals results.

2. Will CBSA enhance their performance objectives to focus on criminal cases and their timely removal? 

Yes. The CBSA is working diligently to maximize removal efforts, with the aim of steadily increasing the number of removals to 15,500 by 2023, while focusing on the highest priority cases. To complement this long term objective, CBSA incorporated risk-based objectives in the Agency’s Departmental Plan, and also introduced for the first time internal performance measures focused on timely removals.

3. Has CBSA taken steps to locate individuals whose whereabouts are unknown?

Yes.  A comprehensive review of the removal warrant inventory is underway. The review of warrants pertaining to cases inadmissible on safety or security grounds has been finalized. The review of the remaining warrant inventory comprised of non-criminal inadmissibility cases is near completion.

4. What is CBSA doing to enhance its triaging approach to ensure cases are quickly removed from Canada?

The CBSA has commenced a detailed review of its file management practices to identify and eliminate administrative inefficiencies. This review has revealed areas for improvement and further analysis suggests that system enhancements will eliminate these inefficiencies and streamline the process. Data science and analytics tools have been introduced to improve file management and support the timeliness of removals.

5. The OAG recommended that CBSA explore options to encourage voluntary returns. What has CBSA done to date?

The CBSA launched a Removal Help Line on August 10, 2020 that allows the public to speak directly with a CBSA official on case-specific inquiries. To date, this initiative has delivered superior results as several individuals who contacted the removals help line have since voluntarily complied with their removal orders.  In addition, the CBSA has developed options for an enhanced Assisted Voluntary Returns Pilot Program based on a comprehensive review of the lessons learned from the previous 2012-2015 AVRR pilot, coupled with a fulsome analysis of similar international partner voluntary return programs.

The CBSA is confident that the new pilot will allow the Agency to incentivize compliance with removal orders.

6. How will CBSA improve its data?

Data quality is pivotal to support business-decisions. As such, a quality assurance program is being developed to address data anomalies and to increase oversight of information being entered in enforcement databases.  This initiative will be supported by enhanced training across Canada and heightened monitoring to promote strong program management practices.

Background information

The Auditor General of Canada (OAG) reviewed the Removals Program in Fiscal year 2019-2020 and released its findings over the summer. Overall, the OAG found that CBSA’s approach to managing the program did not lead to timely removals from Canada. Furthermore, the report was critical of CBSA’s case management and current approach to locate the large number of foreign nationals whose whereabouts are unknown.  The Report made three recommendations to improve the Agency’s management of the Removals Program. The CBSA has accepted all recommendations made by the OAG and has already taken significant steps to address them.

Recommendation 1 – CBSA should continue to refine its strategy to ensure the timely enforcement of new and accumulated removal orders, particularly for high-priority cases. To support these efforts, it should regularly track the timeliness of removal against performance targets.

The CBSA is working diligently to maximize removal efforts, with the aim of steadily increasing the number of removals to 15,500 by 2023, while focusing on its highest priority cases. To complement this long term objective, the CBSA incorporated risk-based targets and introduced for the first time a performance measure focused on timely removals.  A revised removal strategy has been developed to ensure that the agency remains on track to achieve these objectives. This strategy adopts multiple elements to increase program management, including: superior governance through the Functional Management Model; staffing flexibility to address shortfalls; domestic and international partnership expansion to leverage foreign government cooperation; and the introduction of data analysis and analytics tools to improve removals results. The agency is currently examining system enhancements that can potentially support a stronger case management practice and this review is on track to be finalized in January 2021.

Recommendation 2 – CBSA should continue to explore options to encourage voluntary returns and assist the departure of foreign nationals to their country of origin in line with Canada’s international commitments to promote safe and orderly migration.

The Removal help line was launched on August 10, 2020, in the Atlantic Region and provides a 1-800 help line for the public to speak directly to a CBSA Officer who responds to case-specific questions. The results have been remarkable and an early analysis reveals that 23 persons who contacted the help line, and were subject to removal orders, have voluntarily departed Canada. Of these, 18 (78%) went as far as purchasing their own airline tickets to effect their removal.   

To further increase voluntary compliance, the CBSA initiated a comprehensive review of the lessons learned from the previous 2012-15 Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration pilot, and coupled with a fulsome analysis of similar international partner voluntary return programs. The new AVR Pilot Program (AVRPP) seeks to incentivise compliance with issued removal orders, and support the Government of Canada’s need to balance the integrity of both its immigration asylum and enforcement programs. Further, the AVRPP will function in parallel to the broader whole of government Recalcitrant Country Engagement Strategy. The CBSA is confident that this new pilot will achieve desired results.

A challenge in the development of the AVRPP proposal has been a lack of incentive funding models that identify incentive amounts that will induce participation and in-country reintegration success, and not contribute to push / pull irregular migration factors. Following an extensive cost-benefit analysis, it is believed that the program components provide a cost effective means to address difficult-to-remove cases that currently reside in the CBSA removal inventory. A key program delivery impediment has been the identification of an effective incentive fund distribution mechanism. The CBSA plans to engage the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat in order secure temporary Vote 1 authorities enabling transfer payments.  At this juncture the AVRPP targeted operational launch would be in fall 2021 and would operate for two years.

Recommendation 3 – CBSA should improve the integrity of its data and case management practices so that it can better manage the removals program.  

A Quality Assurance Program (QAP) is being developed to address data anomalies, increase governance and oversight, and to manage increased long-term data quality levels. Specialized Business Data Stewards have been identified and will be responsible to establish data quality objectives and to develop clear measurements to monitor and communicate results. These business stewards will work closely with regional data integrity teams to identify and to quickly  resolve data integrity challenges. In an effort to further support the QAP and improve data quality levels, the Agency is introducing enhanced training for its National Case Management System users, including the re-introduction of in-class data entry training (scheduled to commence on December 1, 2020). The quality assurance program is on track to be implemented by March 31, 2021.

Furthermore, a comprehensive review of file management processes is underway to identify inefficiencies. This initiative is meant to eliminate unnecessary administrative delays and to ensure that cases move through the enforcement continuum in a timely manner. To date, several areas for improvement have been identified and system enhancements will be implemented to overcome these inefficiencies and to support superior file management practices. In addition, the CBSA has taken a robust national coordination approach to increase inventory oversight. A review of immigration warrants with criminality has already been completed and the remaining immigration warrants are currently being reviewed.  While the warrant inventory review is near completion, an in-depth analysis of the remaining inventories will be conducted once the QAP is established.

Data interface challenges are being addressed through the launch of CBSA and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Integrated Case Tracking and Prioritization Unit that will streamline processes and identify opportunities to expedite the management of cases. Additionally the Asylum Interoperability Project will create enhancements and improvement to the data interface between systems used in the different steps within the Canadian asylum system.

Contacts

Prepared by: Rick Dvorski, Manager Removal Programs, I&E

Approved by: Chris Lorenz, DG Enforcement Directorate, I&E

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Date modified:

2021-03-24