Opening remarks and overview—Standing Committee on Public Accounts: Office of the Auditor General Audit on Pandemic Preparedness – Surveillance and Border Control Measure (April 20, 2021)

Opening remarks

Good morning Madam Chair and members of the Public Accounts Committee. I am pleased to be here to respond to your questions about the Auditor General's findings on the enforcement of border control measures during the pandemic. I am here with Denis Vinette, Vice President of the Travellers Branch.

I want to thank the Auditor General for her report and say that we accept the recommendation to ensure that border service officers have the appropriate guidance and tools to enforce border control measures, and to conduct a review of decisions related to essential service providers to ensure that exemptions are properly applied.

The CBSA's border services officers have been at the forefront of this pandemic since January 2020, when enhanced screening measures were implemented.

In addition to the 90 acts and regulations that they normally apply, they have also been responsible for implementing the provisions of over 45 pandemic-related Orders in Council (OICs).

These provisions apply to different categories of persons presenting at our points of entry, such as essential service providers and citizens. They are designed to restrict travel and reduce the spread of the virus.

It's important to note that these provisions – which are revised regularly to reflect changing pandemic conditions – add several layers of complexity to the decision-making process.

Every day, CBSA officers make over 35,000 decisions regarding entry. Each decision reflects an individual's unique circumstances – and is based on several factors, including the OIC provisions, to determine whether a person is permitted to enter Canada, and what their quarantine obligations are.

Our officers exercise their professional judgement in a highly complex environment, and are well-supported in their training to apply these measures.

I want to emphasize that our officers have neither the discretion, nor the authority, to overcome the obligations and requirements as prescribed in the OICs. They cannot exempt travellers from quarantine based on any business-related or compassionate factor.

That said, given the complexities they face while making these decisions, there may be isolated incidents of misinterpretation that result in incorrect decisions.

In such cases, we have strategies to continually learn and improve.

The CBSA also continues to support other government departments and initiatives. We have been supporting the implementation of pre-arrival testing, and the mandatory digital submission of contact and quarantine information via the ArriveCAN app, which has now been downloaded over 1.4 million times.

These contributions have helped the Government monitor and control the spread of travel-related COVID-19.

In response to the Auditor General's recommendation, the CBSA has developed a Management Response and Action Plan, and has already taken steps to address the findings.

To ensure that our officers have a sound understanding of new border measures, the CBSA has significantly expanded the provision of detailed technical briefings before new or amended OICs are implemented.

Our objectives are to support how new measures are applied – to ensure clarity for frontline staff and consistency of application.

The CBSA has also established a process to monitor decisions made by CBSA officers on the application of OICs for essential service providers. Adjustments will be made as required.

We are also developing a new training tool, to better assist frontline officers in understanding the complexities of the OICs.

Madam Chair, the CBSA is committed to enforcing border measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and its variants, while facilitating the continued flow of essential goods, including food and medical supplies.

We have been at the forefront of this pandemic since the beginning. I am proud of the work CBSA officers have done, and are continuing to do – to protect Canada during this pandemic.

Thank you.

Scenario note

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts has invited you to appear on the 2021 Office of the Auditor General Report 8 – Pandemic Preparedness, Surveillance, and Border Control Measures.

General information

Date: Tuesday April 20, 2021
Time: 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Duration: Two hours
Location: Videoconference

Officials

Canada Border Services Agency:

• John Ossowski, President
• Denis Vinette, Vice President, Travellers Branch

Office of the Auditor General:

• Karen Hogan, Auditor General
• Carol McCalla, Principal
• Chantal Richard, Principal
• Sarah McDermott, Director
• Francis Michaud, Director

Public Health Agency of Canada:

• Iain Stewart, President
• Cindy Evans, Vice-President, Emergency Management

Opening remarks

At the beginning of the meeting, the Chair will invite you to deliver opening remarks. The Auditor General and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) will also deliver opening remarks. The order of delivery will be determined by the chair. These should last approximately 5 minutes and will be followed by questions from committee members.

Rounds of questions

Questions from committee members will proceed as follows:

• Six minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows: Round 1: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, New Democratic Party
• Second and subsequent rounds: Conservative Party, five minutes, Liberal Party, five minutes, Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes, New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes, Conservative Party, five minutes, Liberal Party, five minutes

Background information

The CBSA's past appearances before PACP were on audits regarding Respect in the Workplace, Taxation of E-Commerce, and Immigration Removals. PACP as a committee heard testimonies on the Auditor General's Main Estimates and the audit regarding Oversight of Government of Canada Advertising. The committee also studied various reports and have requested government responses on all three CBSA studies mentioned above.

The current report examined the role of the CBSA and PHAC in the implementation of border control and quarantine measures to limit the introduction and further spread of the COVID‑19 virus in Canada. This Committee is Chaired by Kelly Block, a Conservative Member. This appearance will be an opportunity for the Opposition to hold the Government accountable on issues related to COVID-19 pandemic so while the questions are supposed to be restricted to items covered in the Audit it's possible that some members will stray beyond these confines and delve into other aspects of CBSA's role in implementing OICs and activities at the border.