{"id":4421,"date":"2019-03-06T11:32:13","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T16:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/?p=4421"},"modified":"2019-03-06T12:06:54","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T17:06:54","slug":"history-of-the-cbsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/history-of-the-cbsa\/","title":{"rendered":"The (Relatively Short) History of the CBSA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>They have their own flag, their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca\/agency-agence\/herald-armoiries-eng.html\">own coat of arms<\/a>, a <i>lot <\/i>of power at the border. And <i>technically, <\/i>they\u2019re a teenager, because they were only founded in 2003. They\u2019re the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), and despite how ubiquitous they are in our importing lives <i>now<\/i>, they\u2019re pretty new on the customs scene.<\/p>\n<p>Our borders weren\u2019t open and unpatrolled prior to 2003, but the founding of the CBSA <i>did <\/i>represent a shift in how customs business is conducted in Canada.<\/p>\n<h2>Before the Agency<\/h2>\n<p>The CBSA\u2019s duties \u2014 customs, immigration, and border protection \u2014 were previously overseen by three different agencies.<\/p>\n<p>The now-defunct <b>Canada Customs and Revenue <\/b>(<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Canada_Customs_and_Revenue_Agency\">CCRA<\/a>) agency wasn\u2019t around for long. Founded in 1999 and disbanded in 2003, the short-lived merger of Canada Customs and Revenue Canada was split to create the CBSA and the modern Revenue Canada.<\/p>\n<p>The CCRA oversaw customs business \u2014 and Revenue Canada\u2019s current duties \u2014 and did so with a different focus than the CBSA. Customs and border business today has a stronger focus on risk and security, while the CCRA\u2019s customs business was more concerned with duties and taxes.<\/p>\n<p>The CBSA\u2019s current immigration enforcement duties were previously overseen by <b>Citizenship and Immigration Canada <\/b>(CIC), now known as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Immigration,_Refugees_and_Citizenship_Canada\">IRCC<\/a>). Today, the IRCC doesn\u2019t oversee immigration enforcement but instead focuses on the paperwork and legal side of citizenship.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the <b>Canadian Food Inspection Agency <\/b>(<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Canadian_Food_Inspection_Agency\">CFIA<\/a>) previously oversaw all food importing and exporting business in Canada. The CFIA still exists, but they now share some of the border-based duties with the CBSA.<\/p>\n<h2>Founding the Canadian Border Services Agency<\/h2>\n<p>In 2003, someone in the government \u2014 the Auditor General, to be exact \u2014 decided that the current way of doing things just wasn\u2019t working. Confusion over departmental communication was creating chaos. Things <i>had <\/i>to change.<\/p>\n<p>By extracting the Canada Customs branch of the CCRA and staffing it with enforcement personnel from the CFIA and the then-CIC, the Canadian Border Services Agency was born. As a response to criticism that Canada\u2019s border activities weren\u2019t concerned enough with national security, the driving aim of the CBSA was more enforcement and risk-prevention based than its main predecessor.<\/p>\n<p>The CBSA\u2019s creation was formalized in 2005. Its officers were armed with small firearms shortly thereafter, a strong departure from the days when Canada Customs Officers relied on the RCMP for backup. The decision to arm CBSA officers was likely informed by the new focus on security and enforcement.<\/p>\n<h2>The CBSA Today<\/h2>\n<p>The CBSA has grown into its duties so well that younger Canadians may not even realize that their approach to customs enforcement is relatively new!<\/p>\n<p>The CCRA has passed into history, but the CBSA works closely with its other parent agencies. Food importers deal with the CBSA for their import\/export account and general customs business, and the CBSA refers food, animal, and plant imports to the CFIA. This frees CFIA personnel up to focus on food safety instead of stationing officers at every border crossing.<\/p>\n<p>The IRCC and the CBSA work together for immigration enforcement. Immigration applications are processed by the IRCC, while immigration law violators are apprehended by the CBSA. Federal Court proceedings involving immigration are represented by the CBSA, not the IRCC.<\/p>\n<p>Today, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca\/agency-agence\/what-quoi-eng.html\">the CBSA operates<\/a> 117 land-border crossings and maintains a presence in 13 international airports. Over half of CBSA\u2019s crossings operate on a 24\/7 schedule. In addition, CBSA officers staff marine operations at major ports, and inspections at 27 rail sites. <a href=\"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/\">Customs brokers like us <\/a>work with them every day, and some of our readers might, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They have their own flag, their own coat of arms, a lot of power at the border. And technically, they\u2019re a teenager, because they were only founded in 2003. They\u2019re the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), and despite how ubiquitous they are in our importing lives now, they\u2019re pretty new on the customs scene. Our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":4424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4421"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4423,"href":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4421\/revisions\/4423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearit.ca\/canadian-customs-broker-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}