# CBSA Pilot to Catch Deportation No-Shows in Northern Ontario



## The Bread Guy (14 Dec 2008)

Anyone who can explain why this kind of pilot makes the most sense in northern Ontario, I'd be happy to hear it (maybe because the crossings are lower key and lower traffic, so more attractive?) - shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the _Copyright Act._

*Border cops launch project to catch foreign criminals in northern Ontario*
Dean Beeby, The Canadian Press, 13 Dec 08
Article link

Canada's border cops began a sweep of northern Ontario earlier this year to catch some of the 1,973 criminals who've apparently gone underground to avoid being kicked out of the country.

Newly disclosed documents show the pilot project was launched last April as the Canada Border Services Agency came under pressure from a cabinet minister to root out more unwanted visitors and send them packing.

The agency already removes about 12,000 people from Canada a year, the vast majority of whom are failed refugee claimants, at an annual cost of about $36.3 million. About 1,700 are criminals or people considered a security threat.

But another 40,000 people subject to removal warrants have simply disappeared - including 1,973 who are criminals or threats to security, says an internal agency report from March.

Early this year, Stockwell Day, then public safety minister, demanded the agency beef up the removals system after headlines about the case of Edmund Ezemo, who was charged with defrauding several companies in Toronto.

Ezemo had been deported to Nigeria from Canada eight times in the last 15 years, after being convicted of numerous fraud-related offences in Ontario and Quebec. He used top-quality bogus passports to slip back into the country each time.

Partly to placate the minister, who also cited other problems with the system, the agency decided to use northern Ontario as a testing ground for a more aggressive strategy to locate the disappeared.

Two of the region's 15 enforcement officers were pulled from routine removal duties and dedicated to finding some of the 46 high-priority criminals believed to have gone underground in the area.

The three-month experiment was intended to develop investigative techniques that could be applied to the whole country.

Documents on the project and related material on removals were obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

It's not clear why northern Ontario was chosen as a test region, and a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency declined to provide details.

"We are currently analyzing the results obtained from this pilot project," Tracie LeBlanc said in an email response to questions ....


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## IrishCanuck (26 Dec 2008)

Wait wait... did that article say "border cops"? That's a first from the media...

In CBSA terms "Northern Ontario" also included the St.Lawerence river area, with the region  starting in Cobourg and going east to Cornwall in the south, and then all the way north to Iqaluit, as well as what you would think of northern ontario, sault. ste. marie, thunder bay, rainy river etc.

Tons of undocumented crossings in the NOR region, as its mostly all on the river, or all in the forest.

Here's a map with the CBSA regions, with Northern Ontario being the blue:

http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/do-rb/map-carte/map-carte-eng.html


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## The Bread Guy (26 Dec 2008)

Ahhhhhh, now that I see how far east "Northern Ontario" goes, it makes a touch more sense....

Living in Thunder Bay, I've heard of people living near the border in rural homes, once in a while, seeing a stranger carrying a suitcase with pants wet up to their mid-thighs walking down a road....  kinda stands out.  ;D

Thanks loads for sharing that IrishCanuck!


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## J.J (28 Dec 2008)

The reason why it is Northern Ontario is that Ottawa is within that region and the program officers and managers  who work there do not have to travel that far to observe the project. 
These same managers generally schedule meetings in Halifax or Vancouver so they can travel on the company dollar.  :


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