Arming of CBSA officers

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The Government of Canada is committed to protecting those who protect our border. Budget 2006 provided $101 million over two years to begin the process of arming CBSA officers and eliminating work-alone situations. The Government is arming CBSA officers to enhance border security and officer safety.

The arming of CBSA officers has not changed their authorities, mandate, duties or responsibilities. Their role with regard to facilitating the smooth flow of legitimate trade and travel across our border while keeping Canada's border secure remains unchanged.

When this initiative is fully implemented, a total of 4,800 officers will be armed.

• This number includes all border services officers who work at land and marine ports of entry, as well as officers who perform enforcement functions within Canada.
• It also includes 400 new permanent officers who will be hired, trained and equipped in order to eliminate work-alone situations.

Providing officers with duty firearms and training improves their effectiveness at the border by enabling them to pursue enforcement activities to a greater extent before involving police agencies.

Ensuring the safety of CBSA officers and the travelling public

The CBSA is putting in place a number of measures to ensure the safety of CBSA officers, the travelling public and border communities. These include the following:

• A rigorous screening process for CBSA officers to ensure that they are physically and psychologically suited to handle a duty firearm safely and responsibly.
• A comprehensive firearms training program, which includes the proper use and storage of a duty firearm and the handling of dangerous situations.
• An ongoing proficiency requirement in the use of firearms, including mandatory annual re-certification.
• Incident reporting and investigation procedures.

At no time will the CBSA ask officers to place themselves, other officers or members of the public in undue danger. Officers will continue to assess situations using their extensive skills, training, tools and good judgement. Armed officers will only resort to using their duty firearm when deemed necessary for the protection or preservation of life, and when all other reasonable alternatives are unsuccessful or unsafe.

Implementation strategy

Moving from an unarmed to an armed workforce is a major undertaking. An effective firearms training program and both operational and human resources policies had to be implemented before the first armed officers were deployed.

Recognizing that all this takes time, the CBSA has adopted a phased-in strategy to arm its officers. The CBSA is committed to ensuring that this initiative is implemented properly, safely, efficiently and without undue delay.

The implementation plan was developed in consideration of the Government's direction to focus early implementation on large-volume ports of entry and on the overall level of risk.

Year One

The first group of armed officers was deployed at large-volume land border crossings and some small and medium-sized ports of entry in August 2007. As well, a small number of inland officers were trained during the first year.

Future Years

Over the coming years, the CBSA will continue to train officers from the areas included in year one, as well as an increasing number of small and medium-sized ports, marine operations, crim