Fewer Than Half of Foreign Fugitives Ordered Deported in Past 6 Years Left Canada, Records Show

A Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) patch is seen on a CBSA officer’s uniform in Calgary, Alberta, on Aug. 1, 2019. Jeff Mcintosh/The Canadian Press

Foreign fugitives have high chances of dodging deportation from Canada each year, as records show that of thousands of foreigners ordered to leave the country over the past six years, just 48 percent were actually deported.

An Inquiry of Ministry, presented to the House of Commons by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), said of the 13,287 foreigners ordered out of the country since 2016, a total of 6,322 were deported, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

The records were requested by Conservative MP Tom Kmiec, who asked in Parliament on Dec. 13, with regard to deportation orders issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) or the CBSA, since Jan. 1, 2016, broken down by year: a) how many deportation orders were issued; b) how many (i) resulted in the individual being deported, (ii) have since been rescinded, (iii) are still awaiting enforcement. He also asked about the average time needed for an individual to be deported after a deportation order has been issued.

The figures for deportation in recent years, obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, are as follows:

• in 2020 of 1,194 foreigners ordered deported, a total 536 left Canada (about 45 percent)
• in 2021 of 1,464 foreigners ordered deported, 453 left the country (31 percent)
• in 2022 of 1,688 foreigners ordered deported, 409 left the country (24 percent)

Auditor General Karen Hogan, in a report titled “Immigration Removals,” which referenced the House Standing Committee of Public Accounts on July 8, 2021, concluded that the CBSA did not remove the majority of individuals ordered to be deported.

“The Agency’s efforts were hindered by poor data quality and basic flaws in case management, resulting in avoidable delays for thousands of cases,” said a news release, which also noted that “deficiencies in information sharing” with the IRCC also caused delay in cases.

“The audit found that CBSA was unaware that it should have been monitoring 1,500 removal orders for enforcement. A further 2,300 orders were delayed because of the poor flow of information between IRCC and CBSA.”

The CBSA also had thousands of files that were “left untouched for years,” with some being high-priority removals, the report said. It had also lost track of 34,700 individuals and did not conduct the regular follow-ups to locate these individuals—meaning that the agency opens the file at least every three years, or once a year for people with criminal histories. The agency has spent $34 million a year on its deportation program.

The CBSA had complained that onerous rules required it to hear and re-hear evidence against foreigners deemed to be in Canada illegally before they could be deported, including people convicted of serious crimes, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

The federal cabinet recently amended the “Immigration and Refugee Protection Act” regulations on Oct. 12 to speed up deportations of convicted criminals.