Tag Archives: staffing

Stop illegal firearms: NDP commits to rehire 1,100-plus border officers

CIU members, including National President Mark Weber, joined federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh on October 17, as the NPD announced a commitment to rehire 1,100 border officers in an effort to stop the flow of illegal firearms into the country.

“The men and women of the CIU can stop guns from entering this country. But because of Conservative cuts, ports of entry are chronically understaffed,” said Singh at the press conference in Toronto on Thursday. “The NDP will fight for 1,100 new border officers to be urgently hired and trained to replace the jobs Conservatives cut. If the Liberals continue to let people down, an NDP government will rehire those 1,100 border officers immediately and keep hiring and keep training.”

Read the NDP’s announcement here

Thanking Singh for his commitment to properly staff the border and support frontline border personnel, the CIU National President was clear: The reality at CBSA is bleak. “Many of our members face exhaustion due to sustained understaffing” explained Weber. “Things desperately need to change at CBSA if we want to get serious about stopping illegal firearms: more frontline border personnel, expanded abilities for our border officers to patrol between ports of entry, improved training facilities, reliable tools that don’t break down, and even benefits in line with other law enforcement agencies to help with the workforce renewal.”

Mark Weber highlighted the positive commitment from the federal government to introduce pension reform for frontline personnel this fall, including border officers, which should help the Agency retain dedicated personnel and have a beneficial impact on the long-term. “That’s a first step” said Weber, “and there’s so much more work that needs to be done”, emphasizing the need for the Agency to stop relying on automated technology that only serves to make our border less secure, and hire officers to find the dangerous goods that threaten our communities.

Watch the full press conference on CPAC

“CBSA officers get in this line of work because they want to keep Canadians safe, and they deserve to be given every tool they need to be successful,” concluded Weber. “What we’re hearing today from the NDP is exactly the kind of support that we need.”

Border Services in Saint John to shift to weekday, daytime only operations: “CBSA has given up” says union

OTTAWA, January 18, 2024 — The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) recently announced that it would only staff border services operations in Saint John, NB, on weekdays during daytime hours, eliminating the long-established, regular presence of border officers in the evening, on weekends, and on holidays.

This decision, which affects travellers, commercial, and marine operations, comes at a time of considerable growth for the Port of Saint John and the surrounding community. Tourism is up, marine trade is flourishing, and new rail lines are being built. The Port itself has undergone a significant modernization process, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visiting the updated installations this past January 17.

By eliminating the presence of border officers outside of weekday daytime hours, CBSA clearly goes against this trend, threatening to undermine both the economic growth and the security of the Saint John community.

“CBSA will say that their decision reflects the demand for service by the Port and the Saint John community, but this does not take into account post-pandemic volumes and completely ignores security issues,” said Customs and Immigration Union National President Mark Weber. “The last two years have seen CBSA and RCMP officers perform some of the largest drug seizures in the history of the Port” explained Weber, adding that “protecting the border is not just a 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday operation. It’s 24/7. The Agency should be increasing its presence in Saint John, not decreasing it.”

The Agency’s decision is not unique to Saint John, as other ports of entry face similar staffing and scheduling challenges. “It’s as if the Agency has given up and simply accepted that they will never be able to properly staff ports of entry with current federal funding,” said Weber. “It’s insulting to our members, to border personnel. Their job is to protect Canadian communities, to interdict dangerous goods and offenders. We really need the federal government to ensure border services can operate adequately at all times.”

“It’s concerning that the federal government finds it acceptable that the Agency, which runs the second-largest law enforcement force in the country, would choose to only staff daytime, weekday shifts. Imagine if the RCMP announced they no longer worked weekends — how would Canadians react?” asked Weber.

Border Services: CIU National President urges federal government to address ‘severe deficit’ in personnel

On Tuesday September 27, 2022, the National President of the Customs and Immigration Union, Mark Weber, addressed the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade for the second time this year as part of the Committee’s study on the potential impacts of the ArriveCAN application on certain Canadian sectors.

Speaking to the Committee, the CIU National President did not mince words: “What the failure of ArriveCAN shows us is that our government must continue to invest in people to best serve people and reconsider its pursuit of a one-size-fits-all technological panacea” Weber explained to Committee members, highlighting the urgent need for more officers.

“What I urge the government and the Agency to do now is to turn their attention to the severe deficit in personnel afflicting border services throughout the country. The reality is bleak: The Agency needs thousands more officers if it wishes to fulfill its mandate” told Weber to the Committee, adding that with current staffing levels, the Agency struggled to adequately curb the smuggling of dangerous goods, despite the sustained efforts of its officers.

A recording of the Committee proceedings can be viewed here.

Delays at airports: CBSA & Minister Mendicino must ensure proper staffing at customs

OTTAWA, May 18, 2022 — As travellers arriving at Canada’s international airports continue to experience extensive delays, the National President of the Customs and Immigration Union (CIU) is calling upon the Minister of Public Safety and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to increase the number of border services officers assigned to passenger operations in Canadian airports and alleviate the pressure on both airport personnel and travellers.

“It is absolutely irresponsible of the federal government to let the situation stand as it is” said Mark Weber, CIU National President. “These delays are a source of frustration for all and contribute to the considerable overcrowding of already busy airports. I urge Minister Mendicino and CBSA to increase the number of border officers and review the infrastructure in place in order to speed up the processing of travellers.”

This situation was foreseeable: Over the past decade, the number of officers assigned to passenger operations has decreased dramatically. At present, at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport alone, CIU estimates that fewer than 300 officers are active in the passenger operations section — nearly half of the number needed to process inbound travellers in a timely manner, and far less than were present just six years ago. This is not unique to Toronto either, with both Vancouver and Montreal facing similar staffing issues.

“The reality is that even with the eventual lifting of current public health measures, significant delays will likely persist, not only due to the critical shortage of officers in most border operations across the country, but also due to an over-reliance on inefficient technologies” explained Mark Weber, adding that the union estimates that an officer can process a traveller twice as fast as the automated Primary Inspection Kiosks.

During busy times, such kiosks also take away valuable space from travellers waiting to go through customs, causing an overflow of travellers outside of the customs area. In addition, many have noted that the new ArriveCan application makes the process more complex for travellers, adding to already substantial delays. While both these technologies may have their role to play, they are no substitute for the expertise of a trained officer, undermining in many ways the security of the country.

Ultimately, it should come as no surprise that there are significant delays in inbound traveller operations when few officers are assigned to primary inspection, with many booths remaining empty at peak times. With travel resuming in force, the situation is likely to worsen, and the primary solution is to ensure that enough border officers are available to process travellers at all major international airports in Canada.