On the eve of Trump's inauguration, NDP calls for Windsor CBSA training facility

On the eve of a second Trump administration, several NDP MPs gathered in Windsor, Ont. — home to some of Canada's busiest border crossings — to call on the government to add more border officers to the front lines. 

Those calls included a pitch for a new Canada Border Services Agency officer training facility in Windsor.

"Currently, [at the Canada Border Services College in Rigaud, Que.], we simply do not have the capacity to train the border personnel and the border officers that we need across this country," said New Westminster-Burnaby MP Peter Julian.

"And so putting in place the training facility here in Windsor makes a great deal of sense."

Windsor West MP Brian Masse, who hosted the press conference at a location near the Ambassador Bridge border crossing with Detroit, said he estimates the border service is short by 2,000 to 3,000 officers. 

"The government has not responded appropriately and that needs to change," he said.

Masse and Julian were joined by NDP MPs Lindsay Mathyssen (London-Fanshawe), Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona) and representatives of the Customs and Immigration Union, which represents CBSA officers.

Incoming U.S. president Donald Trump, who will be sworn in on Monday, has complained that Canada is not doing enough to curb the flow of illegal migration and fentanyl into the U.S. He has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian imports. 

Following those threats, Canada announced a $1.3-billion border security plan, which includes additional surveillance of the border, among other steps. 

"We have already deployed 60 new drones along our border with the U.S., and will be deploying additional surveillance towers and purchasing new technology, such as x-rays, mobile x-rays and hand-held chemical analyzers," the government said last week in a media release.

CBC News has reached out to the federal government to respond to the calls from the NDP.

Drones and new technology not enough: NDP MP

Mathyssen, who is also the NDP's critic for national defence, told reporters that with her community being situated along Highway 401, directly along the vital manufacturing corridor, she knows the importance of a well-resourced and strong border.

"We've also seen the negative side that that transportation stretch can have when it comes to human trafficking, guns and drug trafficking," she said.

While Mathyssen welcomes the government's $1.3-billion effort to address these threats, she said, "the frontline workers," Canada's CBSA officers, were not consulted, she says.

"Now, drones can be a significant and important tool that assists with the interception of crime, but it's the people, our frontline officers, who are the ones doing the bulk of the work, whether CBSA officers or the RCMP and local police forces," she said.

Mathyssen wants to see CBSA officers regain the ability to respond to incidents and patrol between ports by repealing the 1932 Order in Council that stripped them of this responsibility. 

'Allowing our members to patrol between ports a good start:' union

Customs Immigration and Union Local 18 President Alissa Howe says that more investment in their members, rather than technology, is needed.

"I've seen it over and over again where technology has failed throughout the years I've been employed. It is the officers that are catching the goods, contraband and people and not the machines," she said.

"It's been difficult for the officers to understand why staffing doesn't play a more central role in the current border strategy."

CBSA staffing levels, however, have grown in the Windsor area. Howe said in the past year and a half, the union's membership in the area has jumped to over 700 members, up from around 530 in previous years.

"Amazing as that is, staffing levels to effectively run the ports of entry is still a big issue. Even with these numbers, there is still overtime," she said.

"We are still trying to figure out how three ports of entry in Windsor will run without overtime with the same number of staff or less due to the need for superintendents," she said, referencing the anticipated opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge in fall 2025.

She said the CBSA could help with efforts to patrol between ports of entry, as they are specialized law enforcement officers trained with the border in mind.

"It's been frustrating for our members to hear about provincial forces being deployed at the border as well. Many are wondering why Canada is not relying more on border officers as part of the plan to boost border security," she said.

"Allowing our members to patrol between ports will be a good starting point."

Understaffing causing burnout, union says

Alex Hoffman, first vice president of CIU Local 18, has worked at the border since 2006 and said his entire career they've "been struggling to do more with less."

"Staff numbers at specific locations are so low that overtime is nearly unlimited. This is not sustainable in the long term and people are getting burnt out," he said.

In preparation for the new border crossing, Hoffman said they have recruited rapidly but there is still overtime and no noticeable difference in workload.

"We still have traffic backups. We are still busy. When the new bridge opens in eight to nine months, our prediction is that we'll be understaffed at three ports in Windsor," he said.