By Canadian Press

Border agency failing to promptly remove many people from Canada, auditor says

Jul 8, 2020 | 7:56 AM

OTTAWA — The federal auditor general says Canada’s border agency has failed to promptly remove most of the people under orders to leave the country.

In a report tabled in Parliament today, the auditor says the Canada Border Services Agency’s efforts were hampered by poor data quality and case-management flaws, resulting in avoidable delays in thousands of cases.

Problems in sharing information with immigration officials also slowed things down.

The border agency is responsible for carrying out removal orders to ensure public safety and the integrity of the immigration system.

However, the auditor general says, the agency had not touched thousands of files for years, including some high-priority removals.

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The agency also lost track of 34,700 people and was not conducting the regular follow-ups to locate them by opening each file at least every three years, or once a year for people with criminal histories.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 8, 2020.

The Canadian Press