Question Period Note: Firearms Smuggling

In debates regarding C-47, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget, questions arose regarding firearms smuggling and CBSA staffing.

•First, taking firearms as an example, the CBSA seized 1,100 in 2022 which was a record high and has already seized 1000 in 2023. Similarly, the CBSA has seized over 29g of fentanyl and more than 1910kg of fentanyl precursor seizures, 3 times higher in 2022-23 than any prior year.
•In relation to staff count, the CBSA has 8700 frontline staff, and management ranks have not doubled.
•The Government committed $312 million over five years in Budget 2021, which includes resources for the CBSA and RCMP to increase intelligence and investigative capacity at our border, and increase the RCMP’s ability to trace crime guns and detect straw purchasing.
•To identify, disrupt, interdict, and take enforcement action against gun smuggling activities, law enforcement partners work together to share intelligence, build a shared threat picture, and conduct joint enforcement operations.

If pressed:
•The number of new recruits from the CBSA College has continuously increased year over year since 2016, with the exception of 2020 due to the College temporarily having to shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
•The Agency continuously monitors traveller volumes and wait times to allocate resources and adjust staffing levels during peak travel periods to minimize processing times and delays at our ports of entry. It is important to keep in mind that our workforce is agile, being able to mobilize frontline officers in other areas of the Agency, if, and when, needed.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is responsible for ensuring the health and safety of Canadians while facilitating legitimate trade and travel across Canada’s border. Specifically, the Agency helps to protect Canadian communities by combatting the movement of illegal firearms into Canada.

To ensure that the CBSA has the elements it needs to identify, disrupt, interdict, and take enforcement action against gun smuggling activities, the CBSA collaborates with law enforcement partners to share intelligence, build a shared threat picture, and conduct joint enforcement operations. Such collaboration includes the Cross Border Firearms Task Force (CBFTF), the Cross Border Crime Forum, and various activities that fall under the Cross Border Law Enforcement Advisory Committee and Liaison Group. Each of these fora present opportunities for increased collaboration and information sharing between Canadian (e.g., CBSA and RCMP) and US law enforcement partners (e.g., Customs and Border Protection, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms).

Building on the success of the CBFTF and other existing Canada/US relationships, the CBSA has developed integrated regional firearms teams in Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies. These cross-functional teams, made up of intelligence officers, analysts, and criminal investigators, bring together essential expertise and provide a single point of contact for timely collaboration with US and domestic law enforcement partners to disrupt gun smuggling.

In 2021, the CBSA National Firearms Intelligence Desk (NFID) was established. This desk unites CBSA partners to maintain a real-time picture of the threat of illicit firearms in Canada and their movement across our borders to more effectively support enforcement efforts.

The Government continues to invest in people, tools and technology to combat firearms smuggling and trafficking. The Government committed $312 million over five years in Budget 2021, which includes resources for the Canada Border Services Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to increase intelligence and investigative capacity at our border, and increase the RCMP’s ability to trace crime guns and detect straw purchasing. This is in addition to the $92.9 million in funding allocated to the CBSA from 2018-19 to 2023-24 under the Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence. Highlights include:
oDeployment of larger and portable X-ray machines to examine shipments;
oFive (5) additional detector dog teams, specializing in firearm and drug detection, deployed across Canada;
oSpecialized training pilot project to strengthen officer training on vehicle searches;
oAn all-weather detector dog training facility under construction and operational in fall 2022;
oPlanning for installation of large-scale imaging systems in key air cargo hubs;
oReceiving 14 mobile examination vehicles.

To help identify illicit guns in postal facilities, six new X-ray machines were purchased and five have been deployed to the three international mail processing facilities, allowing the CBSA to process all mail in a consistent, efficient, and non-intrusive manner. As well, the use of hand-held and pallet-sized X-ray technology and the deployment of Contraband Outfitted Mobile Examination Trucks (COMETs) is expanding into the air mode at select major airports.

Since 2019, five new detector dog teams have been trained and deployed. Between 2019–2022, the CBSA’s detector dog teams contributed to the seizure of 278 firearms, 241 magazines, and 236 prohibited weapons.

In 2022, the number of firearm seizures increased 34% compared to the previous year, from 403 to 540 incidents. The quantity of firearms seized remained relatively consistent over the past two years (1,100 in 2022; 1,109 in 2021), but these quantities are high relative to previous years and more than doubled from 2020 (495).

From January 1, 2020, to March 31, 2023, the Agency has opened 250 criminal investigations into firearms issues. Many investigations are ongoing or charges are still before the courts, however, the CBSA has laid charges in 103 cases involving firearms. During this same period, courts have imposed guilty convictions in 50 cases.

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