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Message from the Minister

The Honourable Vic Toews, P.C., Q.C., M.P.
Minister of Public Safety

As Minister of Public Safety, I am pleased to present to Parliament the Canada Border Services Agency's (CBSA) 2010–11 Departmental Performance Report.

The CBSA is the Government of Canada organization responsible for managing who and what crosses the Canadian border. The Agency's ultimate goal is to ensure public safety and security, and contribute to the health, safety and economic well-being of our country.

In 2010–11, the CBSA outlined and pursued its vision of an integrated border agency that is recognized for service excellence in ensuring Canada's security and prosperity. Over the past year, the Agency reduced border wait times for travellers and commercial cargo, removed over 15,000 people deemed inadmissible to Canada and launched a program of change which reorganized 4,000 positions at Headquarters and drove an Agency re-branding exercise, culminating with the unveiling of a new heraldic badge before Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

The CBSA also successfully managed the arrival of almost 500 migrants aboard the marine vessel Sun Sea, demonstrating the Agency's ability to respond to challenging circumstances with skill and proficiency.

The Agency's successful ongoing engagement with its United States customs and immigration counterparts was a major foundation for the February announcement by Prime Minister Harper and President Obama of a Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness.

As Minister responsible for the CBSA, I share the pride of the men and women of the Agency who deliver high quality border services which protect our security and facilitate trade, and who epitomize the Agency's motto of Protection, Service and Integrity.

Section I: Departmental Overview

Raison d’être

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) provides integrated border services that support national security priorities and facilitate the free flow of people and goods, including food, plants, animals and related products across the border.

Responsibilities

Created in 2003, the CBSA is an integral part of the Public Safety Portfolio, which is responsible for integrated national security, emergency management, law enforcement, corrections, crime prevention and border management operations. Specific responsibilities include the following:

• administering legislation (over 90 acts) that governs the admissibility of people, goods and plants and animals into and out of Canada;
• detaining those people who may pose a threat to Canada;
• identifying and removing people who are inadmissible to Canada, including those involved in terrorism, organized crime, war crimes or crimes against humanity;
• interdicting illegal goods entering or leaving the country;
• protecting food safety, plant and animal health, and Canada's resource base;
• promoting Canadian business and economic benefits by administering trade legislation and trade agreements to meet Canada's international obligations, including the enforcement of trade remedies that help protect Canadian industry from the injurious effects of dumped and subsidized imported goods;
• administering a fair and impartial redress mechanism; and
• collecting applicable duties and taxes on imported goods.

Examples of Acts Administered by the CBSA

• Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act
• Canada Border Services Agency Act
• Citizenship Act
• Criminal Code
• Customs Act
• Customs Tariff
• Excise Act
• Excise Tax Act
• Export and Import Permits Act
• Food and Drugs Act
• Health of Animals Act
• Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
• Plant Protection Act
• Special Import Measures Act

CBSA Service Locations

The CBSA provides services at approximately 1,200 service points across Canada and some international locations, including the following:

• 117 land border crossings
• 27 rail sites
• 13 international airports
• 440 small vessel marina reporting sites
• 12 ferry terminals
• 82 customs warehouses
• 3 postal processing plants
• 3 detention facilities
• 48 international locations staffed with migration integrity officers
• 5 major marine port facilities

Strategic Outcomes and Program Activity Architecture

The CBSA's two strategic outcomes and Program Activity Architecture for 2010–11 are shown below.

2010-11 Program Activity Architecture
Strategic Outcomes	Canada's population is safe and secure from border-related risks.		Legitimate travellers and goods move freely and lawfully across the border.
Strategic Outcome Description	In providing integrated border services, the CBSA prevents the movement of unlawful people and goods across the border.		In providing integrated border services, the CBSA facilitates the flow of legitimate people and goods in compliance with border legislation and regulations.
Program Activity	Risk Assessment	Enforcement	Facilitated Border	Conventional Border	Trade	Recourse
Program Sub-activity	Screening Abroad	Port of Entry Enforcement - People	Facilitated -People	Conventional -People	Anti-dumping and Countervailing	Trade Disputes
	Targeting -People	Port of Entry Enforcement - Commercial	Facilitated -Commercial	Conventional -Commercial	Tariff, Origin and Valuation	Adjudications
	Targeting -Commercial	Inland Enforcement
		Criminal Investigations

For 2010–11, the CBSA made minor amendments to its 2009–10 Program Activity Architecture. These included the addition of new program sub-activities, as well as revised program activity and program sub-activity descriptions. The changes strengthen the Agency's Program Activity Architecture by providing a more complete inventory of the CBSA's programs and further clarity with respect to the logical relationship between the Agency's programs and its strategic outcomes.

Organizational Priorities

Priority	Type
Improve the capacity to target high risks as early as possible in the travel and supply chain continuum.	Previously committed to
Strategic Outcome 1 Program Activities: Risk Assessment and Enforcement
Status: Mostly Met Major achievements included advancement of the eManifest project, the development of a new Targeting Business Model, improvement of pre-arrival risk assessment systems for people and goods, intelligence gathering and information sharing with domestic and international partners. The CBSA continues to enhance its capacity to identify and intercept people and goods of high or unknown risk before and at the border, which contributes to keeping Canada's population safe and secure from border-related risks. This will remain a priority in 2011–12.

Priority	Type
Improve the efficiency of border processes for legitimate people and goods.	Previously committed to
Strategic Outcome 2 Program Activities: Facilitated Border and Conventional Border
Status: Mostly Met Major achievements included the implementation of an operation plan to meet peak summer period demand and reduce border wait times at the busiest ports of entry, the development of a trusted trader strategy, a resource modelling framework, strengthening of a service strategy, advancement of the Single Window Initiative and expanded integrity awareness and security training. The CBSA continues to improve and streamline border clearance processes to reduce wait times and improve client service, which contributes to enabling legitimate travellers and goods to move freely and lawfully across the border. This will remain a priority in 2011–12.

Priority	Type
Improve management tools, corporate procedures and organization.	Ongoing
Strategic Outcome 1 and 2 Internal Services
Status: Mostly Met Major achievements included the implementation of the second phase of the Agency's Change Agenda, an internal transformation initiative to promote service excellence and strengthen people and corporate management. The CBSA continues to entrench a culture of service excellence, to attract, retain and develop the right people with the right skills, and to ensure that the Agency's programs and services are managed consistently through rigorous financial management and performance monitoring. This contributes to a more effectively managed and integrated organization better positioned to carry out its mandate. This will remain a priority in 2011–12.

Operating Environment

In 2010, the CBSA adopted a new Vision Statement – An integrated border agency that is recognized for service excellence in ensuring Canada's security and prosperity – to clearly communicate to employees, partners, clients and stakeholders the Agency's commitment to service excellence.

The CBSA is a unique organization, one that is both the face of Canada at the border, welcoming returning residents and visitors, and a professional enforcement agency responsible for interdicting and preventing the entry of inadmissible people and goods. Balancing these roles in an increasingly complex and dynamic operating environment requires a strong commitment to service excellence that is underpinned by the Agency's values of respect, integrity and professionalism.

Over the past year, the CBSA demonstrated this commitment by rapidly adapting and effectively responding to planned and unforeseen major events, including the G8 and G20 Summits as well as the arrival of the Sun Sea migrant vessel, which resulted in large surges in workload volumes. In addition, the strength of the Canadian dollar relative to its American counterpart has increased traveller and commercial workload volumes at the busiest ports of entry across the country, many of which were already operating at, or in some cases, in excess of, their full capacity during peak periods.

To address these challenges, border operations were made more efficient through targeted operational plans to meet peak summer period demand, increasingly effective planning and allocation of resources across the ports of entry, and better client outreach. Based on these efforts, the Agency was better positioned to maintain its service standards at some of the busiest ports of entry.

While addressing these increased volumes, the CBSA also contended with a constantly evolving threat environment. The Agency contributed to strengthening the security of the border through targeted and diligent enforcement actions, and helped prevent the abuse of Canada's immigration system by human smugglers. Notable enforcement successes included removing a record number of inadmissible people (over 15,000) and maintaining the integrity of Canada's immigration system through effective processing of the mass arrival of migrants. The CBSA's efforts to address the arrivals of the irregular migrants and its conduct throughout the process, from the design of the reception site to the immediate treatment of medical needs, were recognized and praised internationally.

In delivering on the CBSA's border management mandate, close interaction and cooperation with key border management partners is fundamental for the Agency to deal with emerging threats and to jointly mitigate common and interrelated risks. Significant efforts were made to proactively engage U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Agency's primary border management partner. The Agency completed a joint border threat and risk assessment and reached an agreement to improve information sharing, support policy and program harmonization, and pursue shared infrastructure. The strengthened relationship with the United States positioned the Agency to support the negotiation and implementation of the Canada–U.S. Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness. The Agency also realigned and expanded its commercial stakeholder forums to address integrated border issues and to focus on identifying improvements to commercial examination and clearance processes.

To better position the Agency to identify and respond effectively to emergent trends, the CBSA launched a transformational initiative called the Change Agenda in 2009. The second phase was implemented in 2010–11 to solidify the achievements of the previous phase and further strengthen the Agency's commitment to service excellence. This commitment was represented across three core areas that will continue to guide the Change Agenda as it progresses – People Management, Management Excellence, and Front-line Service Delivery. The CBSA continued the implementation of a new management model that promotes an integrated approach to resource management. Concerted efforts were also undertaken to actively engage with employees and stakeholders to explore opportunities to improve upon the services and value being provided. These measures respond to the broader Government of Canada priority to return to a balanced budget and put in place the structures and processes required to meet the high expectations of stakeholders and thrive in a complex operating environment.

Risk Analysis

Given the dynamic and complex operating environment, as well as the breadth and importance of the CBSA's mandate, the Agency has taken important steps to ensure that it is well-positioned to identify and address potential risks to the achievement of its strategic outcomes. Two types of risks were identified in the 2010–11 Report on Plans and Priorities: operational risks – risks that the Agency is mandated to address on behalf of Canada, and corporate risks – risks to the Agency's ability to deliver its programs.

In 2010–11, significant progress was made in addressing the Agency's operational risks. Threats such as terrorism, contraband, irregular migration and unsafe food and products were mitigated to the greatest extent possible by improving the Agency's targeting and intelligence programs and strengthening risk analysis and targeting systems for people and goods.

The Agency also undertook actions to mitigate three corporate risks related to human resources (recruitment, development and retention), as well as corporate risks related to the sufficiency of information technology systems and the Agency's ability to optimally manage its border programs.

To address the Agency's human resources-related risks, a talent management program for executives was implemented and a learning framework to support employee development was established. In addition, ongoing progress has been made in the development of a people management framework which will ensure that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and a clear direction is established for professional development. To mitigate risks related to the Agency's information technology systems, funding was secured through Budget 2010 to enhance data recovery. A data centre recovery project is underway which will establish a timely recovery capability for information technology services in the event of a major disaster.

The identification and incorporation of risks into program decision-making processes was facilitated by the Agency's transition to a new management model. The management model has helped to clarify accountabilities, improve program design and delivery and promote strong resource management capabilities, including effective financial planning, budgeting and monitoring. As the new management model matures, the integration of program risks and performance measures will directly inform the allocation of resources and the assessment of program performance.

Summary of Performance

Total Financial and Human Resources

The following tables provide summary data on the total financial and human resources of the CBSA for 2010–11.

Financial Resources for 2010–11

($ thousands)

Planned Spending1	Total Authorities2	Actual Spending
1,629,707	1,879,228	1,695,552

¹ Planned Spending comprises Main Estimates and additional funding earmarked for the CBSA in the federal Budgets.

² Total Authorities comprises Main Estimates, Supplementary Estimates, carry forwards and transfers from Treasury Board centrally financed votes.

Human Resources for 2010–11

(Full-time equivalents)

Planned	Actual	Difference*
13,607	14,518	(911)

*There is a variance between Planned and Actual Values for full-time equivalents in certain program activities due to the significant changes made to the CBSA's Program Activity Architecture structure in 2010–11, as well as changes in the methodology used in assigning full-time equivalents to specific program activities. Measures have been taken to ensure future full-time equivalents numbers are accounted for in a consistent manner.

There was a difference of $184 million between total authorities and actual spending.

The $62.1-million lapse in operating expenditures was related mainly to project delays. The Agency experienced delays in the acquisition and implementation of technology investments related to eManifest and detection technology equipment, as well as information technology infrastructures under the Shared Infrastructure Platform and Data Recovery Centre projects. Other project delays include the arming of CBSA officers and the procurement of uniforms. Adjustments to the annual fee paid by the CBSA to Canada Post for the delivery and collection of required duties and taxes assessed on international mail also contributed to the lapse.

The $121.5 million lapse in capital expenditures was related mainly to delays in infrastructure projects at the CBSA Learning Centre in Rigaud, Quebec, procurement issues related to detection technology equipment and facility upgrades, and the procurement of specialty equipment.

Strategic Outcome 1: Canada's population is safe and secure from border-related risks.

Performance Indicators	2010–11 Performance	2009–10 Performance
The percentage of improperly documented people seeking to fly to Canada that were intercepted.	79%	75%
The total number of people removed from Canada.	15,150	14,870

2010–11 Performance:
The CBSA continued to identify and intercept people and goods that are inadmissible to Canada. Compared to 2009–10, the interception of improperly documented people seeking to fly to Canada increased by 4.0 percent and the total number of individuals removed from Canada increased by 1.9 percent.

Program Activity	($ thousands)					Alignment to Government of Canada Outcomes
	Actual Spending 2009–101	Main Estimates 2010–11	Planned Spending 2010–111	Total Authorities 2010–112	Actual Spending 2010–11
1.1 Risk Assessment	131,930	123,105	123,199	155,647	110,480	A strong and mutually beneficial North American partnership
1.2 Enforcement	215,108	312,919	313,013	382,215	244,338	Safe and secure communities
Total Spending	347,038	436,024	436,212	537,862	354,818

¹Planned Spending comprises Main Estimates and additional funding earmarked for the CBSA in federal Budgets.

²Total Authorities comprises Main Estimates, Supplementary Estimates, carry forwards and transfers from Treasury Board centrally financed votes.

Strategic Outcome 2: Legitimate travellers and goods move freely and lawfully across our borders.

Performance Indicators	2010–11 Performance	2009–10 Performance
Total number of people processed	92,339,312	85,890,895
Air	24,581,291	22,629,552
Highway	64,548,495	60,078,754
Marine	2,923,153	2,930,290
Rail	286,373	252,299
Total number of shipments released	13,154,559	11,859,347
Air	3,122,946	2,812,311
Highway	9,216,126	8,294,431
Marine	448,887	428,124
Rail	366,600	324,481

2010–11 Performance:
The CBSA continued to operate the border smoothly for people and shipments seeking entry into Canada. Compared to 2009–10, the total number of people processed and shipments released increased significantly as 7.5 percent more people were processed and 10.9 percent more shipments were released.

Program Activity	($ thousands)					Alignment to Government of Canada Outcomes
	Actual Spending 2009–101	Main Estimates 2010–11	Planned Spending 2010–111	Total Authorities 2010–112	Actual Spending 2010–11
2.1 Facilitated Border	33,539	30,363	30,363	30,387	34,599	Strong economic growth
2.2 Conventional Border	547,540	530,424	531,342	570,623	568,088	Strong economic growth
2.3 Trade	70,253	43,995	43,995	40,684	64,771	A fair and secure marketplace
2.4 Recourse	8,100	9,011	9,011	12,022	9,396	A fair and secure marketplace
Total Spending	659,432	613,793	614,711	653,716	676,854

¹Planned Spending comprises Main Estimates and additional funding earmarked for the CBSA in federal Budgets.

²Total Authorities comprises Main Estimates, Supplementary Estimates, carry forwards and transfers from Treasury Board centrally financed votes.

Internal Services
	Actual Spending 2009–101	Main Estimates 2010–11	Planned Spending 2010–111	Total Authorities 2010–112	Actual Spending 2010–11
	($ thousands)
Internal Services	634,574	569,574	578,784	687,650	663,880
Total Spending	634,574	569,574	578,784	687,650	663,880

¹Planned Spending comprises Main Estimates and additional funding earmarked for the CBSA in federal Budgets.

²Total Authorities comprises Main Estimates, Supplementary Estimates, carry forwards and transfers from Treasury Board centrally financed votes.

Expenditure Profile

The graph below shows the trends of the Main Estimates, total authorities and actual expenditures for the past four fiscal years. Significant additional investments were made in strategic initiatives over several years, culminating in 2008–09. The CBSA's funding increased in 2010–11 as these initiatives moved towards implementation and integration into regular operations. All figures include Canada's Economic Action Plan.

Canada's Economic Action Plan (CEAP)

In 2010–11, the CBSA continued to make progress in its infrastructure replacements and upgrades to ensure that the Agency is equipped to reliably process the volume of goods and people entering Canada within border wait time standards. In British Columbia, the Agency completed improvements to office facilities at Pacific Highway and Huntington. The Agency also completed housing facilities in Pleasant Camp, British Columbia, and Little Gold Creek, Yukon, to support the Doubling-up Initiative, which ensures that border service officers do not work alone, even in remote areas. Construction continues on various infrastructure projects at Kingsgate, British Columbia, and Prescott, Ontario, the new commercial examination warehouse at Pacific Highway, as well as housing units in Beaver Creek, Yukon. The Agency anticipates that these projects will be completed by 2011–12.

Estimates by Vote

For information on our organizational Votes and/or statutory expenditures, please see the Public Accounts of Canada (Volume II) for 2010. An electronic version of the Public Accounts Canada is available at Public Works and Government Services Canada's website, Public Accounts of Canada 2010.[ 1 ]

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