Border officers relied on outdated intel to decide whether to search incoming vessels, audit warns

The risk assessments border officers have used for years to decide whether vessels entering Canadian waters should be searched have been based on outdated and inaccurate data, increasing the risk of high-risk goods and inadmissible people slipping into the country, a recently released audit says.

«Due to system limitations, the [Canada Border Services Agency] may not have a complete record of all individuals entering the country via marine ports,» says the audit, posted online last week.

The review examined how the CBSA's national targeting centre identified people and goods bound for Canada that might have posed a threat between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2022.

According to the audit, the national targeting centre relies on risk assessments to determine if vessels that could be used for illegal activities, such as smuggling or illegal migration, need to be flagged for examination.

Daniel Anson, the director general of CBSA's intelligence and investigations directorate, said high-risk cargo could include precursor chemicals used to make synthetic opioids and other illicit drugs.

«Precursor chemicals are obviously top of mind, given the sad and tragic death rates that we're seeing,» he said in an interview.

Border officers posted to Canada's ports are also on the lookout for potential Canadian Food Inspection Agency violations, like parasitic barnacles underneath a ship, he said.

The targeting centre is also meant to use its risk-assessment training to determine if crew members are admissible.

Anson said sometimes crew members lack documentation or try to use fraudulent documents. Sometimes they're inadmissible because they're from countries under sanctions and in rare cases, he said, a crew member poses a national security