Canada Border Services Agency

Canada Border Services Agency   (Police)
Formation	December 12, 2003
Canadian federal agency that is responsible for border protection and surveillance, immigration enforcement and customs services.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) (French: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada; ASFC) is a federal agency that is responsible for border protection and surveillance, immigration enforcement and customs services in Canada. The CBSA is accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

The CBSA was created on December 12, 2003, by an Order-in-Council amalgamating Canada Customs (from the now-defunct Canada Customs and Revenue Agency) with border and enforcement personnel from the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The Agency's creation was formalised by the Canada Border Services Agency Act, which received Royal Assent on 3 November 2005.

Since the September 11 attacks against the United States, Canada's border operations have placed an enhanced emphasis on national security and public safety. The Canada–United States Smart Border Declaration, created by John Manley and Tom Ridge, then first US Secretary of Homeland Security of the Department of Homeland Security, has provided objectives for co-operation between Canadian and American border operations.

The CBSA oversees approximately 1,200 service locations across Canada, and 39 in other countries. It employs over 12,000 public servants, and offers around-the-clock service at 119 land border crossings and thirteen international airports. It works closely with the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to enforce Canada's immigration laws by facilitating the removal of inadmissible individuals from the country and assisting local police in the investigation of violations of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The Agency oversees operations at three major sea ports and three mail centres, and operates detention facilities known as immigration holding centres in Laval, Toronto, and Vancouver International Airport.

The CBSA operates an Inland Enforcement branch, which tracks down and removes foreign nationals who are in Canada illegally. Inland Enforcement Officers are "plain-clothes" units, and are armed with the same sidearm pistol (Beretta PX4 Storm chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum) as port of entry Border Services Officers.

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References

This page imported content from Wikipedia on 5May 2019.
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