Recent measures by the federal government to strengthen its border security and answer complaints by U.S. President Donald Trump are a good start but don’t go far enough in solving long-standing issues, former border agents from both Canada and the U.S. say.
Ottawa has invested over $1 billion in new equipment and security measures to combat drug trafficking and irregular migration in a bid to avert sweeping tariffs from Trump, who has tied his trade threat to concerns about fentanyl in particular. The tariffs are set to go ahead on Tuesday, Trump said last week after suggesting Canada has not done enough.
While the new investments are welcome and are having some impacts, former Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) official Kelly Sundberg says there needs to be a more coordinated and forward-looking approach to border security.
“I’ve heard a lot of grumbling (from CBSA members) with regards to how disorganized and chaotic things have been,” he told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.
“The fact of the matter is, we’ve neglected our border and border security and migration security for a very long time. Now pressures from Donald Trump are exposing these concerns, but we should have done a lot more with border security before.”
Trump first threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, with 10 per cent levies on Canadian energy products, on Feb. 4. He then paused them for 30 days but said the tariffs would return if both countries don’t significantly reduce drugs and migrants flowing into the U.S. in that time.
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Canada has sought to highlight the progress it has made at the border and in disrupting the production and trafficking of fentanyl in meetings with U.S. officials throughout the month-long grace period.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and cabinet ministers have said fentanyl seizures at the border have dropped 90 per cent over the past month, something the White House highlighted in a readout of Trump’s call with Trudeau last weekend.
But Trump claimed on Thursday that Canada hasn’t made progress on stopping fentanyl “at all” and should be making “a lot more” seizures.
Data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency shows that in January, fentanyl seizures at the Canada-U.S. border dropped to their lowest levels since 2023, with less than 14 grams seized during the month. Over 19 kilograms of fentanyl from Canada were apprehended in the last fiscal year.
Former CBP officer Keith Cozine said encounters of migrants and drugs at the border typically drop during the winter months, and it isn’t clear yet if last month’s decrease — which he said is “not near the numbers that the Canadian government is claiming” — is any different.
“Some of the efforts that are being put in place on the Canadian side of the border is going to help, but there’s so much more they need to do to secure up that border,” he said.
According to U.S. and Canadian government data, less than one per cent of the fentanyl entering the U.S. comes from Canada. Around six per cent of irregular migrant encounters were at the northern U.S. border in the last two fiscal years, according to CBP data.
The situation “pales in comparison to what we’re seeing from Mexico,” Cozine acknowledged, which is where most U.S. border security resources are being deployed.
Yet Sundberg said many of the security threats posed to Canada at the border still need addressing. Those range from stopping illegal gun trafficking from the U.S., to boosting security checks of shipping containers arriving by boat or train, to increasing biodata screening of people arriving at ports of entry.
“We have had an honour-based migration program for quite some time,” he said. “But the issue is that it exposed us to some significant threats, when you couple that with the hyper inflow of foreign nationals through our temporary visa programs.”
Cozine agreed that the biggest issue for joint Canada-U.S. border security is at official points of entry, with the U.S. often stopping people who enter Canada with the intention of then heading south.
“There’s very, very little screening of people entering (Canada) when you compare to United States,” he said. “This problem is not going to go away until they shore up border security at the ports of entry.”
Sundberg added more CBSA agents are needed to remove people who pose a security risk or fail to leave the country when required.
“The reality is we only have 400 officers nationally that are tasked with identifying, arresting and removing unlawful non-citizens,” he said. “Four hundred individuals for the size of our country and for the volumes we’re looking at, it’s theatre.”
He said the changes needed will require legislation to amend laws like the Immigration Refugee Protection Act, the Customs Act, the Criminal Code and the Canada Border Services Agency Act.
That last statute should be amended to transform the CBSA into the “Canada Border Security Agency,” he said, and establish independent oversight — something he argues could have highlighted the challenges Canada now faces years ago.
“Canada has a lot of work to do in ensuring our sovereignty,” Sundberg said.
“It’s time to stop doing press releases and actually start protecting our border.”
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