Canada Border Services Agency

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ASFC) is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border guard (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and customs services in Canada. The CBSA is responsible to Parliament through the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, currently Marco Mendicino, who took office following the 2021 election, and is under the direction of the president of the Canada Border Services Agency, Erin O’Gorman. The Agency was created on December 12, 2003, by an order-in-council that amalgamated the customs function of the now-defunct Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, the enforcement function of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (now known as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada), and the port-of-entry examination function of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The CBSA's creation was formalized by the Canada Border Services Agency Act, which received Royal Assent on November 3, 2005. The CBSA oversees approximately 1,200 service locations across Canada, and 39 in other countries. It employs over 14,000 public servants and offers 24-hour service at 117 of its land border crossings and at 13 international airports. It works closely with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to enforce immigration laws by facilitating the removal of inadmissible individuals from the country and assisting local police in the investigation of violations of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The Agency oversees operations at three major sea ports and three CBSA mail centres (CMC), and operates detention facilities, known as immigration holding centres (IHC), in Laval, Quebec; Toronto, Ontario; and Surrey, British Columbia. CBSA's Inland Enforcement branch tracks down and removes foreign nationals who are in Canada illegally. Inland Enforcement Officers are plainclothes units and are equipped with the same sidearm pistol (PX4D Storm chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum) as Border Services Officers (BSOs) found at ports of entry.