Canada’s Senate says it’s time for the federal government to establish oversight on the Canada Border Services Agency to make sure it doesn’t abuse its powers.
The agency has 13,000 employees managing borders that see over a million people cross back and forth every year.
Officers have remarkable powers. These include stopping travellers for questioning, taking blood and and breath samples and the right to search, detain and arrest citizens and non-citizens without a warrant.
In some cases, CBSA employees can share information about refugee claimants with authorities in the claimant’s country of origin.
Unlike the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the border agency is not overseen by an independent review or complaints body.
The Senate National Security Committee says that has to change.
In report tabled Thursday, the committee called for an independent civilian review and complaint watchdog to deal with grievances from travellers about border agency activities.
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