Canada Border Services Agency Research Articles

The Visual Governance of Canadian Migration Agencies

Despite increasing attention to images in the study of world politics, the role of visual representations in transnational governance processes in general and migration governance, in particular, has received less attention. This paper aims to fill this gap by examining the visual representation of migration governance by the two Canadian government institutions responsible for it: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Through a multi-modal analysis of their X (formerly Twitter) images, the paper shows how they tend to shy away from a visual representation of people on the move, privileging a technical communication in an aspiration toward a “neutral” representation of migration issues. Secondly, it sheds light on the discrepancies between the policies directed toward Afghani and Ukrainian refugees and the unexpectedly undifferentiated visual communication about the two groups. Finally, the paper explores what the pictures accompanying X (formerly Twitter) posts of IRCC and CBSA can tell about how these government institutions represent themselves. Findings showed that government institutions’ esthetic practices are not always in line with the institutional migration policies and text narratives, suggesting that different government implementation tools (i.e., regulations, practices, textual discourses) may not reinforce each other but advance alternative perspectives.

Peculiarities of the Application of Information and Communication Technologies for Distance Learning of the Canadian Border Guard Service Personnel

The paper reveals the peculiarities of the development of distance education in Canadian educational institutions. The specifics of distance learning in the most popular land-based and virtual universities in different provinces of Canada are highlighted. The main tasks of distance education in the Canadian higher education system are identified. The key problems that hinder the development of distance education at the international level are identified. It is proved that distance learning in Canada is successfully integrated into the educational process and is aimed at training highly qualified specialists in various fields. It is known that due to changes in security legislation in 2001, the practice of visiting different checkpoints was cancelled. It is proved that Second Life is an online world in which users (residents) create avatars and interact with other participants, places or objects. It was noted that a virtual border crossing point was created using Second Life to train cadets to conduct interviews with people crossing the border at checkpoints to Canada. It has been researched that in order to enroll in distance learning and continuing education courses, certain requirements must be met. It is indicated that distance education offers hundreds of courses available on a monthly or semester basis. The article describes the distance learning course "Border Services" on the website, which is divided into two parts. It is known that the first part of the course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the activities and functions of the Canada Border Services Agency and the second one is to provide students with an understanding of Canadian citizenship and immigration.

Data Laundering Border Violence: Performance Measures and Immigration Enforcement

On July 8, 2020, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) tabled its report on immigration removals, finding that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) fails to enforce deportations in a timely manner and has abysmal record-keeping practices. The report concludes that these failings undermine the integrity of Canada’s immigration system and endangers the public. Critical Accounting scholarship problematizes auditing for legitimizing harmful processes through the guise of scrutiny. The OAG audit of the CBSA overlooks the well-documented systemic abuses of the CBSA in administering migrant detention. The article argues “performance audits” are a governmental technology called data laundering that rationalizes the violence inherent in immigration enforcement. Data laundering obscures the fact that policing migration depends on broad discretionary powers, leading to opaque and inconsistent data practices. “Laundering” signals auditing’s inability to be sufficiently adversarial with a sector of law enforcement whose poor data-keeping practices maintains an illusion of recordkeeping as a form of power. Audit dependence on quantitative forms of data increases violence against immigrants; when violent deportation and detention measures are quantified, this presumes an acceptable ledger of force that accounts for, and in so doing legitimizes, state enactment of violence upon vulnerable people.

“How Can You Put This All Down in One Story?” Transgender Refugees’ Experiences of Forced Migration, Border Crossings, and the Asylum Process in Canada Through Oral History and Photovoice

Research on asylum experiences for sexual and gender minority refugees has increased within the past decade. However, even within this growing body of research and critical commentary, the voices of gender minority or transgender (trans) refugees and their particular experiences navigating migration and asylum processes can sometimes be overlooked or lost within the larger subject of queer refugee experiences. Understanding the individual experiences of trans refugees can help scholars to further understand how gender identity and sexual orientation are regulated in migration and settlement. This article focuses on the narratives and photovoice of two trans refugees in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Canada offered them relief from the state and social persecution they were experiencing in their countries of origin. Yet, they also experienced hyper-regulation by the Canadian state that caused them to be detained and interrogated by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) as well as fear and silencing in their asylum hearings by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada’s. Their experiences reveal how trans individuals are both hyper-regulated and marginalized by asylum and immigration processes in Canada. These government processes work to reinforce heteronormativity and the gender binary in which trans asylum seekers are marginalized.

Forest Biosecurity in Canada – An Integrated Multi-Agency Approach

In Canada, forest biosecurity is primarily under federal jurisdiction as the federal government is the signatory to the International Plant Protection Convention and other international trade agreements. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), which is Canada’s National Plant Protection Organization, has the mandate of analyzing risks, setting policy, and managing incursion responses related to forest biosecurity. Other federal government agencies play important roles; the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) enforces regulations at international ports of entry and the Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada conducts research and analysis in support of the development and implementation of phytosanitary regulations. The provinces and territories also manage invasive species through implementing regulations to prevent the spread of established forest pests. This paper outlines the regulatory framework for forest biosecurity within Canada, and provides case studies of species that have invaded Canadian forests or are anticipated to do so in the near future.

Immigration status and policing in Canada: current problems, activist strategies and abolitionist visions

ABSTRACT Bridging prison and immigration justice is of utmost importance, and an obvious and strategic point of encounter for dialogue among activists and scholars working on these issues is immigration detention. But as penal and carceral abolitionists have taught us, we cannot tackle prison injustice without addressing broader issues in policing, criminal law and other means of coercive social control. Taking my cues from this work, I suggest that we move upstream and look at the role of immigration policing in detention and deportation. The article draws from records obtained mostly through Access to Information (ATI) and Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to map out collaboration between the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and municipal police forces in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. In looking for ways to limit police involvement in internal border control, the article discusses strategies to promote a culture of non-collaboration with immigration enforcement and build alternative means of ensuring community safety and well-being in the spirit of police and border abolitionism.

Examining the ‘National Risk Assessment for Detention’ process: an intersectional analysis of detaining ‘dangerousness’ in Canada

ABSTRACT Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers use the National Risk Assessment for Detention (NRAD) process to evaluate the ‘riskiness’ of immigration detainees. The NRAD’s key tool is a 2-page document laying out ‘risk factors’ with corresponding points that add up to scores of ‘dangerousness’ allegedly posed by non-citizens. CBSA officers then recommend detention in either a provincial prison or a lower security ‘immigration holding centre’. In a national context of no legislated upper time limits on detention periods, and where telephonic and other access to incarceration sites is impeded, the NRAD form’s outcome portends serious, long-term consequences.

Caught red handed: iDNA points to wild source for CITES-protected contraband leeches

In October of 2018, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) at Pearson International Airport in Toronto notified the Wildlife Enforcement Branch of Environment and Climate Change Canada that a passenger had arrived aboard a flight from Russia with a large quantity of live leeches. The leeches had been discovered in the passenger’s carry-on luggage. An enforcement officer with Environment and Climate Change Canada detained the leeches to identify the species in order to determine whether the import was lawful. We identified the leeches as Hirudo verbana and extracted DNA from the bloodmeals of a subsample of 240 leeches and used metabarcoding of 6 mitochondrial loci to determine the vertebrate host species on which the leeches had previously fed. Sixteen undomesticated vertebrate host species were identified from the bloodmeals of the imported leeches, indicating that these leeches were collected from wild habitats. Furthermore, the overlap of host species’ distributions point to a possible collecting source in the Volga delta, the Danube delta, or the coastal area region on the east side of the Sea of Azov. Our findings support the utility of invertebrate-derived DNA (iDNA) as a valuable tool in forensic evaluation of trafficked wildlife and provide new evidence regarding illegal exploitation of the European medicinal leech.

Rescaling the Sanctuary City: Police and Non‐Status Migrants in Ontario, Canada

AbstractCanadian cities pledge to provide access to municipal services to non‐status migrants and withhold information identifying non‐status migrants from federal immigration authorities. Despite these promises, local police continue to cooperate with the Canada Border Services Agency, which raises questions about the capacity of cities to honour their promises. An empirical study involved interviews with high‐ranking police officers in eight local jurisdictions in Ontario about police perceptions regarding their role in the enforcement of federal immigration law and their obligations to honour sanctuary‐city policies. The results show that many police officers believe they possess legal authority to report non‐status migrants to federal authorities. We suggest that this belief rests on misconceptions about the relationship between criminal law and immigration law, claims of jurisdictional immunity from municipal government, and distortions of the principles of policing in Canada. Rescaling of sanctuary policies to the provincial level may offer solutions.

Proving FTA Preferential Tariff Eligibility: The Evidentiary Burden in Canada

As is the case with most free trade agreements, importers simply claim preferential tariff eligibility at the time of import. This claim can later be subject to verification by the customs administration in view of determining if it was valid. Proving preferential tariff entitlement requires assembling and presenting relevant facts and documents that support the claim. But just how much evidence is necessary in order to discharge that burden? In Canada there has always been a disconnect between what the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) deems necessary in the course of an origin verification and what the courts find satisfactory in the course of a judicial review. What follows are certain illustrations of that disconnect and how it usually gets resolved by Canadian courts. Origin verification, judicial review, NAFTA, burden of proof, non-originating status, eligibility considerations, evidence

Policing Canada’s Refugee System: A Critical Analysis of the Canada Border Services Agency

Abstract The officers of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) play pivotal roles at various stages in Canada’s refugee system, making decisions that are life-changing for asylum seekers. This article examines the evolving institutional setting and processes that define the CBSA’s enforcement policy and its consequences for asylum seekers in Canada. Drawing on the findings of field-research, conducted between October 2015 and May 2018 in three Canadian provinces (Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec), it argues that the Agency operates in a specific social universe heavily shaped by the post-9/11 geopolitical context of the criminalization of migration. This situation has been exacerbated by the major overhaul of Canada’s refugee system, undertaken by the previous Conservative government in 2012. The article further contends that the way the CBSA has been involved in refugee status determination turns Canada’s refugee system into an adversarial and unfair process for some groups of asylum seekers. To that end, it highlights the CBSA’s policies in three areas: eligibility determination, front-end security screening of refugee claimants, and ministerial interventions at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

Sequence determination between blue ballpoint pens and toner using MikrosilTM casting of the intersection

A technique was developed and assessed for use in the determination of line crossing sequence. This technique takes advantage of the transfer of both substrate topography and ink chemistry, at the line crossing intersection, to a Mikrosil™ casting compound. An initial pilot involving intersections between blue ballpoint inks and toner was constructed and blind tested using Forensic Document Examiners at the Canada Border Services Agency. Following this initial pilot, a more extensive trial was constructed to assess the technique’s application with a larger population of blue ballpoint pens and a larger number of document examiners.

Canada’s Detention of Children in Immigration Holding Centres

Between 2015–2016, 201 children were held in detention in the Toronto Immigration Holding Centre (Canada Border Services Agency, 2017). There may have been even more held across Canada, but these figures are unavailable. Child detention is illegal under international law and causes serious mental, physical, and emotional health complications. In this article we discuss Canada’s detention of children drawing upon scholarship in the areas of (a) human rights and the law; (b) children’s health and health equity; and (c) the political economy of the welfare state. The paper provides alternatives to Canadian practices by describing child detention best practices.

What DNA can't tell: Problems with using genetic tests to determine the nationality of migrants

This article relates to a set of recent reports about the Canadian Border Services Agency's (CBSA) use of commercial DNA ancestry tests to determine the nationality of detained migrants. While DNA tests are routinely used in many countries for the purposes of family reunification, these reports are particularly concerning. Not only do they imply a misunderstanding of the scope of genetics to shed light on legal and political phenomena such as nationality claims, but they also flag up important ethical problems regarding issues of consent and data privacy. In this article, the author clarifies the flawed logic behind using genetics to investigate nationality, outlines the ethical issues at stake and suggests amendments to existing norms in order to work towards more responsible practices in this area.

Analysis of the effect of ageing, age, and other factors on iris recognition performance using NEXUS scores dataset

The historical NEXUS iris kiosks log dataset collected by the Canada Border Services Agency from 2003 to 2014 has become the focus of scientific attention due to its involvement in the iris ageing debate between the National Institute of Standard and Technology and the University of Notre Dame researchers. To facilitate this debate, this study provides additional details on how this dataset was collected, its various properties and irregularities, and presents new results related to the effect of ageing, age, and other factors on the system performance obtained using the portions of the dataset that have not been previously analysed. In doing that, the importance of conducting subject-based performance analysis, as opposed to the traditionally done transaction-based analysis, is emphasised. The significance of factor effects is examined. Recommendations on further improvement of the technology are made.

Організація та правова регламентація «єдиного вікна» для зовнішньої торгівлі в зарубіжних країнах

The present article provides the review of the peculiarities of the international legal standards concerning the Single Window for foreign trade and their introduction to the national legislation. The description of the general principles for the national legislation in this field, as the recommendations of the UN/CEFACT define, is given, including: the main issues requiring legal regulation, the use of checklists for existing legislation analyzing, the definition of the Government agencies’ responsible for the organization of the “Single Window” competence and the principles of interaction with other involved government agencies. The law and practice of implementing the Single Window of such states as Australia, the United States and Canada are analyzed. The emphasis is made on the existence of different models of legal regulation for the “Single Window” and on the existence of common mandatory elements of such regulation. Besides, the important role of the coordination relations between the involved government agencies through the conclusion of interagency agreements and memoranda is highlighted. Customs Legislation Amendment and Repeal (International Trade Modernisation) Bill 2001, Security and Accountability For Every Port Act of 2006, Executive Order “Streamlining the Export/Import Process for America’s Businesses”, Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, United States – Canada Beyond The Border: A Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness, Umbrella Memorandum of Understanding between the Canada Border Services Agency and Health Canada are analyzed.

Finding Makhubu: A morphological forensic facial comparison

June 16, 1976, marks the Soweto Youth Student Uprising in South Africa. A harrowing image capturing police brutality from that day comprises of 18-year-old Mbuyisa Makhubu carrying a dying 12-year-old Hector Peterson. This circulated international press and contributed to world pressure against the apartheid government. This elevated Makhubu’s profile with the national security police and forced him to flee to Botswana, then Nigeria, before disappearing in 1978. In 1988, Victor Vinnetou illegally entered Canada and was later arrested on immigration charges in 2004. Evasive of his true identity, the Canadian Border Services Agency and Makhubu’s family believe Vinnetou is Makhubu, linking them by a characteristic moon-shaped birthmark on his left chest. A performed DNA test however, was inconclusive.Following the continued 40-year mystery, Eye Witness News in 2016 requested further investigation. Using a limited series of portrait images, a forensic facial comparison (FFC) was conducted utilising South African Police Service (SAPS) protocols and Facial Identification Scientific Working Group (FISWG) guidelines. The images provided, presented a substantial time-lapse and generally low resolution, while being taken from irregular angles and distances, with different subject poses, orientations and environments. This enforced the use of a morphological analysis; a primary method of FFC that develops conclusions based on subjective observations. The results were fundamentally inconclusive, but multiple similarities and valid explanations for visible differences were identified. To enhance the investigation, visual evidence of the moon-shaped birthmark and further DNA analysis is required.

Border officer training in Canada: identifying organisational governance technologies

ABSTRACTWhile recent scholarship has begun the difficult task of unpacking the sociology of frontline border policing, literature examining how frontline border officers are governed through training and organisational governance technologies is sparse (particularly in terms of how officers are trained to interact with and form perceptions of the public they serve). This article provides the first concrete examination of border officer training by conducting a Foucauldian discourse analysis of various officer training and other documents to determine the contours of organisational governance technologies and how they serve to guide border services officers (BSOs) employed by Canada Border Services Agency in interacting with and perceiving of members of the travelling public. Findings indicate that governance technologies include training documents, manuals, public policy, and a bifurcated agency governance hierarchy serving to enable, support, and constrain BSO frontline duties, public interactions, as well as potentially perceptions. Findings also reveal that officers receive very little training related to interacting with members of the travelling public on the frontline. Officers also receive very little instruction related to how they should prioritise their disparate duties related to interacting with the travelling public. Findings ultimately indicate that when training is present, governance technologies – alongside recent shifts in agency organisational governance – contain systematic biases that produce officer worldviews and social interactions that are rooted exclusively in security provision, while leaving BSOs without the tools necessary to handle other types of public interactions that regularly occur at the border.

In Plain Sight: Documenting Immigration Detention in Canada

In December 2013, Lucia Jimenez was caught paying less than the full fare for a public transit ticket. An undocumented Mexican national, Jimenez was taken into custody by the Canadian Border Services Agency. She hanged herself shortly thereafter. Following Jimenez’s death, a friend argued, “Lucia ended up being a ghost here.” Like so many non-status migrants for whom banal daily rituals—like accessing public transit—are dangerous, Jimenez practiced a necessary invisibility. But it wasn’t until her undocumented status came to light that she really disappeared: she entered the state’s “apparatus of disappearance, and vanished in plain sight” (Nield). Given the technologies of surveillance at work in detention facilities, it seems counterintuitive to constitute them as places where one can vanish, but such is the case in Canada, where there is no upper limit on the length of immigration detention. Tings Chak takes up these issues in her 2015 graphic essay, Undocumented: the Architecture of Migrant Detention, arguing that there is a pressing need “to make visible the sites and stories of detention.” With attention to Chak’s book and to the circumstances surrounding Jimenez’s death, this essay takes up the call to instigate a public conversation about immigration detention in Canada.

Health considerations in the Syrian refugee resettlement process in Canada.

Canada has responded to the humanitarian emergency in Syria by committing to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees by early 2016. This has been a complex undertaking which required coordination between international organizations, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and federal government departments, including Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). Within and across Canada, this initiative has also required the collaboration of provincial and municipal governments, non-governmental organizations and volunteers, including private sponsors, to enable planning for the transition of Syrian refugees into a new life in Canada. In planning for the reception of Syrian refugees, government agencies did not anticipate major infectious disease threats. However, early findings from Europe and the experience of health care providers who serve other refugee populations suggested that this population may have other unmet health needs and untreated conditions, due to their experience of displacement over the past three to four years. With this in mind, a great deal of planning has been undertaken to address potential challenges to public health. Social services providers and medical interpreters have been enlisted to help Syrians access the health care system and explain their needs. Communities of practice within Canada have responded, both in providing care and in developing and updating tools and resources to support a culturally sensitive and evidence-based approach to screening and meeting the health needs of the Syrian refugees.