Nearly two years after Parliament passed legislation to create an independent civilian complaints and review regime for the Canada Border Services Agency, the regime still is not operational. The delay leaves people subject to CBSA’s powers, including those held in immigration detention, without access to the independent complaints mechanism Parliament created. The legislation would allow any individual or third party to complain about the conduct of a CBSA employee in carrying out the agency’s powers or duties.

The delay also means CBSA employees cannot yet use the new commission process for complaints that fall within its mandate. A newly released report examining former CBSA employee Luc Sabourin’s years-long attempts to have concerns about the agency independently reviewed is renewing scrutiny of that gap, as advocates question what the continued delay means for accountability at the border agency.

That report, released on Aug. 13 by the Whistleblowing Canada Research Society and prepared by Ottawa lawyer Brian Doody, examines Sabourin’s effort to have concerns about CBSA addressed outside of the agency. Sabourin, also a former Canadian Armed Forces member, was medically retired from the CBSA in January 2022 after 31 years of federal service. His concerns included alleged misuse of CBSA resources, workplace harassment following his disclosures, and security-related issues he later raised with MPs and through other channels.

The report describes itself as a preliminary fact-finding analysis rather than a determination of Sabourin’s allegations, and says the evidence does not definitively establish every claim. It says the documents reviewed show that Sabourin repeatedly raised concerns through multiple channels over several years.

Years in the making

Parliament passed Bill C-20 to create the Public Complaints and Review Commission, which would handle complaints and conduct reviews involving both the RCMP and CBSA. The legislation received royal assent on Oct. 31, 2024, but its CBSA complaints and review regime is still not in force.

Civil society organizations spent years pushing for independent oversight of CBSA before Bill C-20 passed, and continued raising concerns about the commission’s independence and powers as the legislation moved through Parliament. Amnesty International submitted recommendations to the House Public Safety Committee, which studied the bill, and later testified before the Senate National Security Committee, supporting the creation of the commission while pressing for stronger safeguards around independent investigations.

Simon Lafortune, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree (Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, Ont.), told The Hill Times that establishing the commission requires work on governance, staffing, information technology systems, and operational protocols across the RCMP and CBSA. He said the government plans to launch consultations in late summer or early fall on regulations governing the commission, including with Indigenous and racialized communities, civil liberties organizations, unions, and frontline RCMP and CBSA personnel.

The government did not provide a date for when the commission will become operational.

“We understand and share Canadians’ desire for an independent, effective review body for both the RCMP and the CBSA to be operational as soon as possible,” Lafortune said.

The stakes in immigration detention

For people in immigration detention, however, the delay is not an abstract question, said Julia Sande, a campaigner with Amnesty International Canada. Amnesty and Human Rights Watch called for independent CBSA review in 2021 after their joint research found that, in the absence of independent oversight, the agency’s exercise of its broad mandate and enforcement powers had repeatedly resulted in human-rights violations.

CBSA can detain people on immigration grounds, determine where they are held, and argue for their continued detention, which are powers, Sande said, that can separate people from their children, families, communities, and employment.

It’s great that the government passed legislation to create a body two years ago, but what does that mean to someone subjected to CBSA’s powers? Nothing until the body is operational and something they can turn to,” she said.

Detainees can currently file complaints directly with CBSA, Sande said, but she described a significant barrier built into that process: people may be reluctant to complain to the same institution they are accusing of mistreatment, particularly when they fear reprisals or remain subject to its authority.

Sande raised the same concern in 2024 testimony before the Senate committee studying Bill C-20, arguing that CBSA could still initially investigate complaints against itself unless the commission intervened. She called for independent commission investigations of serious complaints, including those involving detention conditions, discrimination, abuse, or removals. Amnesty also supported allowing the commission to initiate its own reviews and third parties, including non-governmental organizations, to file complaints.

University of British Columbia law professor Efrat Arbel, who studies immigration detention, said the consequences of inadequate external scrutiny can extend beyond any individual case.

“The issues at stake are not just about liberty but sometimes quite literally about life and death,” she said.

Arbel said racialized detainees and people with mental-health challenges can face particularly serious effects, while broader patterns can be difficult to identify when cases are considered individually.

She said oversight cannot rely only on individuals coming forward with complaints, particularly when people subject to CBSA’s powers may be reluctant to complain to the agency itself. Under the legislation, the commission’s chair could initiate a complaint where there are reasonable grounds to investigate a CBSA employee’s conduct, while the commission could also launch reviews of specified CBSA activities on its own initiative.

“Proactive investigation and systemic review is absolutely necessary,” she said

Raising concerns from within

Sabourin told The Hill Times that, after years of raising concerns through internal and external channels, he was unable to obtain the independent review he believed was needed.

His report similarly says no independent investigation reports were found in the material reviewed, and identifies the absence of an independent mechanism capable of examining such concerns as a central unresolved issue. It also says the evidence does not definitively establish every allegation.

Sabourin said the lack of an independent avenue can also discourage employees from speaking up.

“If you report something, you become the target, and then the message is clear: don’t report anything,” he said.

Doody said the central difference is whether complaints about CBSA can be examined outside the agency itself.

“You have the agency investigating itself, and the idea of having a commission is that the commission is independent from the agency,” he said.

CBSA says complaints ‘addressed in an impartial manner’

CBSA spokesperson Luke Reimer said complaints against its personnel are currently handled through the agency’s centralized public complaints process. Once a complaint is accepted as within CBSA’s jurisdiction, it is assigned to the affected area, such as the relevant port of entry or program, for investigation. The process can include contacting complainants, employees and witnesses; collecting evidence; making findings on each allegation; and issuing a final disposition letter.

“The CBSA operates a centralized public complaints process to ensure that all concerns are reviewed and addressed in an impartial manner,” Reimer said.

Asked what independent civilian mechanism currently exists to review a complaint if someone believes CBSA investigated it inadequately, Reimer did not identify one. He pointed instead to the Public Complaints and Review Commission, which is not yet operational for CBSA complaints.

For people in immigration detention, Reimer said the same centralized complaints process applies. He also pointed to the Canadian Red Cross, which monitors detention conditions and detainee treatment under an agreement with CBSA. On its website, the Red Cross describes that work as independent monitoring, but states that it does not replace the work of a public ombudsman with legal jurisdiction over immigration detention facilities.

Independent CBSA complaints body still dormant nearly two years after enacting law passes