Government of Canada announces border security exercises with provinces and territories, starting with Ontario

TORONTO, Jan. 3, 2025 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada continues to take concrete action to strengthen border security, collaborating closely with provincial, territorial and U.S. partners to keep communities on both sides of the border safe.

Today, the Honourable David McGuinty, Minister of Public Safety, announced the launch of a series of Government of Canada-led exercises with provincial and territorial governments designed to further strengthen our ability to take action and respond to events at the border. The first exercise was held today with the government of Ontario.   

As part of a Team Canada approach, senior officials from federal organizations responsible for border security, including the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Public Safety Canada (PS), and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), met with their Ontario counterparts to discuss how to best prepare for and respond to potential situations that might arise on either side of the Canada-U.S. border.

The goal of these exercises is to assess preparedness, test coordination, determine adequacy of resources and ensure effective inter-agency communication and federal-provincial-territorial coordination for whatever scenarios may come our way. These collaborative exercises with provinces and territories are strengthening our posture and refining and enhancing the systems in place to stay ahead of evolving challenges to ensure the border remains secure.

These exercises build on Canada's Border Plan, a $1.3 billion investment to support a robust, enforcement-focused posture at the border that will include the deployment of helicopters, drones, mobile surveillance towers, and officers with new canine teams.

The CBSA and the RCMP play a crucial role protecting our communities by preventing illegal goods and inadmissible people from entering Canada. They are in constant operational contact with their U.S. partners and have contingency plans in place while procuring additional technology, equipment and surveillance means to multiply the existing resources at the border.

Quote(s)

"Strengthening border security requires all of us to take a Team Canada approach – and this series of exercises with our provincial and territorial partners seek to do just that. Through their professionalism and dedication, Canada's law enforcement agencies are prepared to respond to any scenario at our border."

     -       The Honourable David J. McGuinty, Minister of Public Safety

"Partnerships are essential to border integrity and the enforcement of Canadian laws. The type of training conducted today helps to ensure that any response to potential border-related contingencies will be well coordinated. The RCMP and its partners will continue to use a multi-layered approach to securing the border and the coastline by using personnel, technology, and intelligence."

     -       Mike Duheme, RCMP Commissioner

"The Canada Border Services Agency benefits from collaboration in maintaining border operations and security. We have already begun to implement changes to increase our capacity and initiated work to strengthen our collaboration with federal and provincial partners in support of Canada's Border Plan. We have increased our monitoring and reporting activities as well as practiced our contingency plans. With our American partners, building on the recent decision to align hours of service with U.S. Customs and Border Protection at more than 30 locations, last week flagpoling was ended eliminating a major irritant to both countries and this week we announced a planned land border preclearance project in the United States."

     -       Ted Gallivan, Executive Vice-President, Canada Border Services Agency

"Working with our federal partners, we are securing our shared border and keeping streets across Ontario and Canada safe. Through launching this inaugural readiness exercise, we are stepping up and showing that our province is prepared to work with all partners to protect our communities."

     -       The Honourable Michael S. Kerzner, Solicitor General of Ontario

Quick Facts

• Budget 2024 provided $743.5 million over five years, including $159.5 million ongoing, to support the stability and integrity of Canada's asylum system, increasing processing and decision-making capacity.
• Since implementing a partial visa requirement for Mexican nationals in February 2024, Canada has seen a significant decrease in asylum claims from Mexican nationals. The average claims per month dropped from 2,068 during the eight months before the visa imposition to 541 in the eight months after the visa imposition.
• The Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) has been in effect since 2004 and is an important tool for Canada and the U.S. to work together on the orderly management of asylum claims made in our countries. In March 2023, the STCA was expanded to apply across the entire Canada-U.S. land border, including internal waterways, such as the Great Lakes.
• Health Canada's new Canadian Drug Profiling Centre will complement existing laboratory capacity by allowing for more specialized analysis of synthetic drug samples. Analysis will go beyond identifying the components of a sample, and look at markers to help determine where substances were manufactured.
• Health Canada's new Precursor Risk Management Unit will increase oversight over precursor chemicals and monitor emerging illegal drug trends.
• As announced by the Government of Canada as part of Canada's Border Plan, work and study permits will no longer be provided to flagpolers at a port of entry, further streamlining activities and allowing Canadian and American border officers to focus on border enforcement.
• The CBSA announced its intention to launch its first preclearance operation in 2025. Preclearance supports the national security and economic prosperity of both Canada and the U.S. by facilitating the secure and efficient movement of people and goods across the border.

Associated Links

• Government of Canada announces its plan to strengthen border security and our immigration system
• Backgrounder
• 2024 Fall Economic Statement

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SOURCE Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada