Removals Audit
Date: July 3, 2020
Classification: Unclassified
Fully releasable (ATIP)? Yes
Branch / Agency: IEB/CBSA
Proposed Response:
- I would like to thank the Auditor General for her work on this important file.
- The CBSA accepts all of the Auditor General’s recommendations and is already taking concerted action to address them.
- The timely removal of failed claimants plays a critical role in supporting the integrity of Canada’s asylum system.
- The CBSA has a legal obligation to remove individuals who have no legal right to stay in Canada as soon as possible.
- To ensure better results in the years to come, the CBSA is committed to strengthening the tracking and prioritization of cases and working to implement systems enhancements to improve the Agency’s ability to better track performance against service standards.
- The CBSA is also committed to increasing voluntary compliance through the expansion of a successful pilot program for a dedicated information support line and developing options for a voluntary departure incentive program.
- The CBSA is continuing to work closely with partners to ensure timely and accurate sharing of information, pursuing system upgrades, and implementing additional training measures during the 2020-2021 fiscal year.
If pressed on the number of removals:
- The total number of enforced removals for FY 2019-2020 is 11,458 individuals.
- The total number of enforced removals for FY 2018-2019 is 9,693 individuals.
If pressed on the number of removals during COVID-19:
- On March 17, all inland removals were postponed until April 21, 2020, and continue to be suspended.
- As of June 30, 2020, the total number of enforced removals for FY 2020-2021 was 1,778 individuals.
Background:
It is anticipated the Auditor General of Canada (AG) will table her report on Removals on
July 8, 2020.
Overview of the Report
The AG’s audit of the CBSA’s removals program found that the Agency has not been doing enough to effectively remove individuals with enforceable orders, as well as find individuals whose whereabouts are unknown. The audit also determined that inadequate case management and poor data quality have contributed to the accumulation of the large number of enforceable cases that need to be actioned.
The AG’s overall findings fall into the following areas:
- the CBSA’s inability to remove all foreign nationals subject to enforceable removal orders in a timely way, leaving an accumulation of a large number of cases in our inventory;
- the CBSA’s focus on overall targets do not address risk or complexity of cases or timely removals;
- poor data quality and unreliable information sharing and its implications for case management have resulted in inactive cases or cases missing from our inventory; and
- the CBSA’s lack of investigations into the whereabouts of a large number of foreign nationals with enforceable removal orders.
Based on these findings, the AG has recommended the Agency refine its removals strategy with better performance monitoring, improved case management and data quality, as well as explore ways to encourage individuals subject to removal to leave Canada voluntarily.
Currently, there are approximately 37,000 individuals who have failed to appear for their removal proceedings and whose whereabouts are unknown. Some of these individuals may have left Canada on their own and failed to notify the CBSA.
The expansion of the Entry/Exit program into the air mode, which was implemented on June 25, 2020, will help identify those that have departed. In the air mode, commercial air carriers are now required to provide the CBSA with electronic passenger manifests of every passenger and crew member travelling out of Canada on their aircraft. This exchange of biographic entry data permits the Agency to focus and prioritize immigration enforcement activities, such as ongoing criminal and immigration investigations, on persons still in Canada.
Further, while the CBSA strives to conduct removals in a timely manner, all individuals are entitled to exhaust due process under the law in advance of the CBSA proceeding with removal. Once due process has been exhausted, the CBSA may still face other impediments to removal, including lack of travel documents or logistical challenges in arranging removals.
The CBSA’s priority for removals is on the small number of cases (approximately 2,800) involving criminality (i.e. security, organized crime, crimes against humanity, serious criminals, and failed irregular arrival refugee claimants).
CBSA Removals Process
As part of its enforcement of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), the CBSA has a statutory obligation to remove any foreign national that has been issued a removal order for violating the IRPA. Removals are an integral part of the CBSA’s security mandate.
The IRPA specifies that individuals may be inadmissible for any of the following reasons: security; crimes against humanity and war crimes; criminality; organized crime; risk to health of Canadians or excessive demand on health services; misrepresentation; inability to financially support yourself or your dependents; based on a family member’s inadmissibility, and non-compliance with the IRPA (e.g. overstaying the time you are permitted to remain in Canada).
Every foreign national ordered to be removed from Canada is entitled to due process before the law and all removal orders are subject to various levels of appeal. Foreign nationals have the right to file an application for leave and judicial review before the Federal Court, throughout the process, accompanied by a stay motion in the case of those facing imminent removal. Some Permanent Residents subject to a removal order also have a right of appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division of the IRB. Removals cannot be enforced until all pending legal avenues have been exhausted.
The CBSA prioritizes its removals based on a risk management regime:
- Priority 1: Security, organized crime, crimes against humanity, serious criminals, criminals, and failed irregular arrival refugee claimants;
- Priority 2: Failed refugee claimants;
- Priority 3: All other inadmissible persons.
In the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the CBSA removed 9,693 individuals from Canada; it removed 11,458 in the 2019-2020 fiscal year. These represent the highest removal numbers in the last four years for the Agency. As of June 30, 2020, the CBSA has removed 1,778 individuals for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, which has been impacted by a removal stoppage due to COVID-19.
Removals during COVID-19
On March 17, all scheduled removals were postponed and will continue to be suspended. However, exceptions may be considered on a case-by-case basis, particularly:
- serious inadmissibility cases; and
- individuals who approach the CBSA with a request to leave voluntarily. The Agency will facilitate the removal, as per normal process, by purchasing an airline ticket if the individual is unable to do so themselves.
While the vast majority of removals are currently postponed, removals are still being administratively enforced as per regulatory changes that came into effect in 2018 (section 240(3)). When the CBSA receives adequate information that a foreign national has ‘self-deported’ or left Canada without confirming their departure, the removal order can be enforced within CBSA systems and the case is closed (meaning it no longer appears in removal inventories). This activity can be conducted by officers working from home in light of pandemic response measures and will contribute to additional removal statistics during the period of COVID-19 measures and contributes to the total number of cases recorded thus far in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
Contacts:
Approved by: Scott Harris, Vice-President, Intelligence and Enforcement Branch, 613-957-8328
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