Government of Canada strengthens border security

OTTAWA, ON, June 3, 2025 /CNW/ - A strong Canada means strong borders. Today, the Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety introduced the Bill, the Strong Borders Act to strengthen our laws and keep Canadians safe. 

The Bill will keep Canadians safe by ensuring law enforcement has the right tools to keep our borders secure, combat transnational organized crime, stop the flow of illegal fentanyl, and crack down on money laundering. It will bolster our response to increasingly sophisticated criminal networks, and enhance the integrity and fairness of our immigration system while protecting Canadians' privacy and Charter rights.

Securing the border

• Amend the Customs Act to secure our borders against illicit drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, and auto theft:
  • obligating owners and operators at certain ports of entry/exit to provide, equip, and maintain facilities for any purpose related to the administration and enforcement of CBSA's mandate which includes the examination and detention of goods destined for export;
  • allowing the CBSA access to premises under the control of transporters and warehouse operators to perform examinations in places where goods destined for export are reported, loaded, unloaded, or stored.
• Amend the Oceans Act to add security-related activities to coast guard services, which will enable the Canadian Coast Guard to conduct security patrols and collect, analyse and disseminate information and intelligence for security purposes;
• Enhance the ability of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to share information collected on registered sex offenders with domestic and international law enforcement partners;
• Protect the asylum system against sudden increases in claims by introducing new ineligibility rules.
• Improve how asylum claims are received, processed, and decided;
• Strengthen authorities to cancel, suspend or change immigration documents, and to cancel, suspend or stop accepting new applications; and 
• Improve how Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) shares client information with federal, provincial and territorial partners.

Combatting transnational organized crime and illegal fentanyl

• Create a new accelerated scheduling pathway that allows precursor chemicals that can be used to produce illicit drugs to be rapidly controlled by the Minister of Health. This will allow law and border enforcement agencies to take swift action to prevent their illegal importation and use and to ensure strict federal oversight over any legitimate use of these chemicals;
• Amend the Criminal Code and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act to facilitate law enforcement's access to basic information and data, and amend the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Act to ensure CSIS's investigative tools also keep pace;
• Introduce the Supporting Authorized Access to Information Act (SAAIA) to ensure that electronic service providers have the capabilities to support law enforcement agencies and the CSIS in criminal and intelligence investigations by compelling them to fulfill legally authorized requests to access or intercept information and communications;
• Amend the Canada Post Corporation Act to remove barriers that prevent police from searching the mail, where authorized to do so in accordance with an Act of Parliament, to advance a criminal investigation; and
• Expand Canada Post's inspection authority to open mail.

Disrupting illicit financing 

• Strengthen Canada's anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regime, including through stronger anti-money laundering penalties;
• Address some of the most prevalent types of money laundering, including through new restrictions on large cash transactions and 'third party deposits';
• Enhance supervisory collaboration and support high standards of regulatory compliance by adding the Director of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) to the Financial Institutions Supervisory Committee (FISC) and enabling FINTRAC to exchange supervisory information on federally regulated financial institutions with FISC; and
• Clarify public to private information sharing provisions to help better detect and deter money laundering and support the recently created Integrated Money Laundering Intelligence Partnership (IMLIP) between banks and law enforcement.

The Strong Borders Act is a key component of our plan to build a safer and more secure Canada. Further action will be announced over the coming months to keep our communities safe, get guns off our streets, and make bail harder to get for repeat offenders charged with car theft, home invasions, human trafficking and drug smuggling.

Quotes 

"Our government made a commitment to keep our communities safe and work with our American partners to strengthen our border. The Strong Borders Act will help us tackle organized crime, and further equip our border and law enforcement agencies with the authorities and resources they need to keep our border secure – for both American and Canadian communities."

-       The Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety

"Canada is taking action to respond to rising migration pressures. We're improving security at the Canada-US border and making our immigration and asylum systems stronger, more flexible, and responsive to new and developing pressures. This is about protecting the integrity of our system while building a safer and more resilient Canada."

-       The Honourable Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

"Canada is stepping up in the fight against transnational financial crime. This bill will strengthen supervision and enforcement to combat money laundering and terrorist financing – reinforcing our government's commitment to stop illicit financial flows."

-       The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue

"Canada's criminal laws must keep pace with an evolving landscape. This legislation strengthens the tools available to law enforcement to detect and investigate serious crimes, while upholding the Charter rights of people in Canada and respecting the rule of law."

-       The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

""Expanding the Canadian Coast Guard's services to include security activities will help ensure the protection and sovereignty of our vast coasts and waterways. With our extensive fleet and experience on the water, we are well positioned to make a significant contribution to Canada's national security, making the country stronger, more adaptable, and more responsive."

-       The Honourable Joanne Thompson, Minister of Fisheries

""This legislation will give Canada stronger tools in the fight against fentanyl so together with all levels of government, Indigenous communities, and public health and law enforcement partners, we can save lives and keep our communities safe."

-       The Honourable Marjorie Michel, Minister of Health

"Canada's new Government is committed to protecting the health and safety of Canadians. The proposed amendments to the Canada Post Corporation Act will help stop the flow of drugs in Canada. This will help to prevent thousands of overdoses and save lives."

-       The Honourable Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement

Quick Facts

• Through Canada's Border Plan, the Government of Canada is investing $1.3 billion in concrete action to keep communities safe on both sides of the border.
• The Border Plan provides $200 million to Public Safety Canada and the Communications Security Establishment Canada to support enhanced gathering of intelligence on transnational organized crime and illegal fentanyl, and enable sharing with law enforcement partners across Canada and the United States.
• Moreover, providing $743.5 million over five years, including $159.5 million ongoing, was provided to support the stability and integrity of Canada's asylum system, increasing processing and decision-making capacity.
• In recent years, the Government has invested more than $379 million to strengthen the effectiveness of Canada's Anti-Money Laundering/Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime, and made or is making legislative and regulatory changes, including by providing new tools to law enforcement, adding new criminal offences and strengthening penalties, enhancing information sharing, expanding the Regime to new sectors at risk of money laundering, and providing the CBSA with new authorities to pursue trade-based money laundering.
• The Canada Border Services Agency is Canada's first line of defence at 1,200 ports of entry across the country. Day in and day out, approximately 8,600 frontline personnel play a crucial role protecting our communities by preventing illegal goods and inadmissible people from entering Canada. For more on the CBSA's enforcement actions visit: Canada Border Services Agency enforcement action statistics.
• The Government of Canada is committed to recruiting 1,000 more RCMP personnel to tackle drug and human trafficking, foreign interference, cybercrime, and the organized criminal gangs, as well as to the hiring of over 1000 additional CBSA personnel, including border services officers, intelligence analysts and specialized chemists, and the training of up to 9 new detector dog teams.

Associated Links

• Backgrounder
• Strengthening border security
• Canada's engagement with the United States
• Launch of the Joint Operational Intelligence Cell
• Financial crime investigators and prosecutors collaborate on latest money laundering threats
• Government of Canada lists seven transnational criminal organizations as terrorist entities
• Government of Canada expands plan to strengthen border security
• Government of Canada announces its plan to strengthen border security and our immigration system
• Government launches new intelligence sharing partnership focused on fentanyl trafficking and other criminal use of funds

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SOURCE Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada

Contacts: Alice Hansen, Director of Communications, Office of the Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety, [email protected]; Media Relations, Public Safety Canada, 613-991-0657, [email protected]; Chantalle Aubertin, Deputy Director of Communications, Office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, [email protected]; Media Relations, Department of Justice Canada, 613-957-4207, [email protected]; Media Relations, Canada Border Services Agency, 1-877-761-5945, [email protected]; Audrey Milette, Office of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue, [email protected]; Media Relations, Department of Finance Canada, [email protected], 613-369-4000; Mathis Denis, Press Secretary and Senior Communications Advisor, Office of the Honourable Joël Lightbound, 343-573-1846, [email protected]; Media Relations, Transformation, Public Services and Procurement, 819-420-5501, [email protected]; Media Relations, Canadian Security Intelligence Service, 613-231-0100, [email protected]; Renée LeBlanc Proctor, Press Secretary, Minister's Office, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, [email protected]; Media Relations, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 613-952-1650, [email protected]; Media Relations, Health Canada, 613-957-2983, [email protected]; Media Relations, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, [email protected]