Customs Services

Expected Outcome

Performance Summary – We have met this Anticipated Result as demonstrated by the following performance against expectations:

• continued to interdict significant percentage of the total drugs seized by Canadian enforcement agencies
• implemented a national advance information program as discussed in Anticipated Result 5
• sustained strong partnerships, and developed new ones both in government and in the private sector
• provided prompt and appropriate response to all known cases of a significant threat
• expanded our Officer Powers Program to 45 sites from 24
• provided a timely response to requests from Canadian industries for protection against dumped or subsidized imports causing injury
• increased our use of information technology throughout the Special Import Measures Act (SIMA) processes
• while we have yet to implement Customs Controlled Areas at airports, we plan to get this back on track in 2003-2004

Protecting the security, health, and safety of Canadians requires continuous monitoring, intelligence gathering, co-ordination, and prompt action. While commercial activity appears to have recovered to pre-September 11 levels, traveller numbers continue to lag in comparison with two years ago. Examination rates have returned from their peak levels following September 11, 2001, to a more moderate range while the hit rate on exams remains strong particularly in the commercial mode as shown in Fig. 1-1.

1-1 Trend in Volumes and General Enforcement

Our ongoing efforts to identify, assess, and respond to both existing and emerging threats continue to make major contributions to the safety, security, and health of Canadians. While many of the individual statistics in Fig. 1-2 reflect a decline in some areas, our targeting efforts effected a number of significant seizures, including several seizures of tobacco and cigarettes, which account for the dramatic increase in tobacco seizures noted in that table.

1-2 Contraband Interdictions: Year-Over-Year Comparison

In addition, our increasing use of technology and tools makes it easier to interdict contraband including the $210 million hashish seizure depicted in Fig. 1-3. Significant seizures of this calibre underscore our contribution to the government's Safe Streets Initiative. In fact, more than 60% of all drugs seized in Canada in 2002 were the result of Customs actions.

1-3 $210 Million Hashish Seizure in Halifax

In addition to seven mobile VACIS units that allow us to scan entire marine containers, rail cars, and tractor trailers, we have invested in other technologies and projects to enhance our capability to interdict chemical, biological, radioactive, and nuclear weapons of mass destruction as well as explosive materials. In total, our investment in detection technologies and training exceeded $20 million in 2002-2003. We will report the results of these investments in our next Annual Report.

Besides the broader reach afforded the front line by new tools and technology, changes in federal legislation have brought added scope to the job. The Cross-Border Currency and Monetary Instruments Reporting Regulations were implemented on January 6, 2003 to combat money laundering and terrorist financing activities. Over the three-month period from January 6 to March 31, Customs seized $8.6 million under this initiative, of which $4 million was forfeited to the Government of Canada.

Aided by our Officer Powers Program, which has been expanded from 24 to 45 ports of entry over the past year, we succeeded in reuniting 104 missing children with their families and arresting or detaining 1,610 individuals, including 621 impaired drivers and 624 individuals who had outstanding warrants. While the number of impaired drivers is significantly lower than the 1,285 reported last year, there is significant third party data to support that this reduction may be the result of the strong deterrent value inherent in establishing such a presence.

Building on the Customs Action Plan and fuelled by Public Security and Anti-Terrorism (PSAT) funding, we have moved forward on a number of key security initiatives under the Smart Border Declaration. These include various projects with our partners on both sides of the border, and are discussed in some detail in Anticipated Result 5. Unfortunately we were not able to move as quickly with our implementation of Customs Controlled Areas at our national airports but hope to make progress in the coming year.

As part of the modernization of partnerships with key other government departments, we are expanding the use of memoranda of understanding (MOUs) and arrangements to strengthen our collective ability to manage threats to the health, safety, and security of Canadians. A renewed MOU with Citizenship and Immigration Canada was signed in March 2003, and we have been working with Health Canada to develop screening measures designed to fight the travel-related spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

We are also exploring new ways of partnering with our colleagues at all levels of government and the private sector to better achieve our outcome. We currently participate in 13 geographic regions as part of Integrated Border Enforcement Teams (IBET). IBET combines the resources of a number of agencies from Canada and the United States to develop and act on intelligence along our shared border. We have also established Joint Passenger Analysis Unit pilots in Miami and Vancouver International Airports with our U.S. counterparts. In the private sector, as part of our Partners in Protection program, we have signed 95 additional partners in the transportation sector to identify high-risk shipments and travellers.

Behind the scenes, we helped protect Canadian producers from unfairly dumped or subsidized goods. Four investigations and four expiry reviews were conducted involving goods from nine countries. Customs ensured compliance with 42 findings of injury and this required the conduct of 15 re-investigations resulting in 39 country-specific actions. These activities ensured the protection of 46,000 jobs and $13.3 billion in Canadian production. The increased use of technology, in particular the Internet, throughout the SIMA processes has meant a more timely and efficient distribution of important documents.

Date modified:

2003-10-29