Border Officer Union Raises Concerns About Staffing Shortages Amid Trump’s Tariff Threats

The federal union that represents Canada’s front-line customs and immigration officers expresses concern over staffing levels at the Canada Border Services Agency amidst U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

Trump’s executive order imposing 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian products, with a lower 10 percent levy on energy, is scheduled to take effect on Tuesday.

Despite Canada’s efforts to meet Trump’s demands for enhanced border security and a prolonged diplomatic push by Canadian officials in Washington, Trump announced on Monday that the tariffs will proceed as planned.

Mark Weber, the national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, disclosed that the agency currently faces a shortage of about 2,000 front-line officers.

Weber emphasized that the CBSA lacks sufficient staff at certain ports of entry and urgently requires an additional training center.

“Presently, the CBSA operates with only one training center that can train less than 600 new recruits annually, which aligns with our attrition rate,” he mentioned. “With just one training center, it becomes extremely challenging to increase our numbers significantly.”

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According to the federal government website, the Canada Border Services Agency employs 17,226 public servants, with approximately 8,500 of them serving as front-line personnel.

In 2021, the CBSA had around 15,500 staff, including approximately 8,100 front-line employees. By comparison, in 2012, the agency operated with roughly 13,000 employees and about 7,200 front-line officers.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre previously called for the federal government to recruit at least 2,000 border agents. He also advocated for expanding the CBSA’s jurisdiction to cover the entire border, not just official border crossings—a request that the union has made.

The union has also voiced concerns about budget reductions as part of the government’s measures to reallocate federal funds.

The CBSA reported a net decrease in its budget of $48.5 million between 2024 and 2025, primarily as a result of the government spending review.

Weber expressed hope that the increased focus on border security will prompt the government to boost staffing levels. While he remains positive about the government’s new $1.3 billion border plan, he indicated that it remains unclear how much of the funding will be allocated to hiring additional staff.

Weber noted that the current staffing shortages at the CBSA have affected officers’ ability to conduct searches.

“Our staffing levels have reached a point where we are heavily reliant on technologies, self-declaration, and similar methods to hopefully intercept,” he explained. “We need to return to physically interacting with travelers, conducting searches, and asking questions.”

The CBSA website reveals that in the 2024-25 fiscal year, the government made 36,225 seizures of items like drugs and firearms. This data does not include seizures from the preceding months.

In recent years, the agency reported 62,055 seizures in 2023-24, 51,376 in 2022-23, 52,349 in 2021-22, and 75,291 in 2020-21.

Rebecca Purdy, a CBSA spokesperson, affirmed that the agency remains committed to intercepting illegal drugs, such as fentanyl, and the chemical precursors used in producing illegal synthetic substances to prevent these harmful materials from entering Canadian communities.

Weber asserted that having more staff at the border will reinforce Canada’s dedication to border security and lead to increased seizures.

“I have visited ports of entry where previously 12 individuals were working, but now only four are present,” he recalled. “With such limited staff, how extensive can the search operations be?

“Hopefully, we can reach a point where officers never have to face the dilemma of letting potential interceptions go due to inadequate resources to address them adequately.”