Border intelligence program needs better training, analytics: evaluation

Canada's border agency needs better training and information-processing tools to help fight everything from firearms smuggling to human trafficking, an evaluation has found.

Better training and information-processing tools are needed to help the intelligence program at Canada’s border agency fight everything from firearms smuggling to human trafficking, says an internal evaluation.

The recently released Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) evaluation report also found the sensitive nature of the activities and a lack of data made it difficult to fully assess the program’s effectiveness.

The program is responsible for the collection and analysis of intelligence on drug trafficking, gun smuggling, immigration fraud, human smuggling, human trafficking, and barring people from Canada on grounds of national security or war crimes.

The evaluation, undertaken between March 2021 and March 2022, found access to training was insufficient to support the functions of intelligence analysts and officers. “The main challenge appears to be training availability.”

Some core training has only been available through external providers, such as the Privy Council Office and the Canadian Police College, which provide instruction to various intelligence organizations and law enforcement agencies, the report says.

“Not ensuring available training poses a risk to the agency in terms of liability (e.g., officers being called to testify in court) and could cause employee performance issues, as employees are not being set up to succeed in their jobs.”

There was also a perception that the program “lacks the technological capacity needed for efficient and effective operations.”

“Interviewees felt that the CBSA is a data-rich organization, but also indicated that accessing and reconciling data from different sources is challenging and the program lacks the tools to leverage data analytics,” the report says.