How is Canada tackling the cross-border smuggling crisis? An analyst weighs in on concerns

A view of the Rainbow Bridge border crossing between the U.S. and Canada near Niagara Falls, Ont. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Carlos Osorio

The shared U.S.-Canadian border has been a growing battleground in the midst of U.S. President Donald Trump’s border demands and tariff talks.

Recent data from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) have revealed a trend – based on weight, Canadian border agents have seized significantly more illicit drugs coming from the U.S. than those heading south.

In 2024, border agents intercepted almost 8.3 million grams of illegal drugs coming from the U.S. – a 118 per cent increase from 2022, according to the CBSA.

The CBSA said this amounts to 469,000 doses in 2024 compared to 112,000 doses in 2022.

Chris Lewis, former Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) commissioner and CTV’s public safety analyst, told CTV’s Your Morning Friday that what’s heading south is “pittance” compared to what’s coming north from South America, Central America and the U.S. into Canada.

Lewis said the issue extends beyond just drugs, with a significant concern over the flow of illegal handguns from the U.S.

The CBSA said it seized 839 firearms at the border in 2024 compared to 581 in 2022.

“That’s what’s killing Canadians is illegal handguns from the U.S,” Lewis said. He added that securing our border and working with the U.S. to prevent illicit items from going the other way is important.

In 2024, Toronto police said of the 717 guns they seized related to crimes, 88 per cent were sourced from the U.S.

Addressing the challenges

Lewis said the personnel shortage within the CBSA and RCMP across the country is in the thousands.

Lewis also highlighted the challenge posed by the vast, unprotected areas between official border crossings, where smugglers can easily move goods across the border.

“We’ve got 5,000 miles of border that is largely unprotected, except for specific border crossings. But everything in between is not. The OPP and some others are helping the RCMP and CBSA secure that, at least in the Ontario portion. But that can’t be sustained,” Lewis explained.

The former OPP commissioner stressed the importance of intelligence-led investigations and high-visibility patrols to identify and intercept those involved in the illicit trade. However, he cautioned that this would require a substantial influx of resources and manpower.

“You need to have people on the ground to actually take action and make arrests and seize the products that are coming into the country,” he said.

The appointment of a “fentanyl czar” to help build relationships and secure additional funding is a step in the right direction, but Lewis cautioned that this alone would not be enough to solve the problem.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named former deputy RCMP commissioner Kevin Brosseau as Canada’s new “fentanyl czar,” in response to Trump’s tariff threat if Canada didn’t take measures to secure the border. On Feb. 3, Trump delayed the implementation of the tariffs for Canada and Mexico for 30 days.

Among the measures that are part of a larger $1.3-billion border security plan are deploying 10,000 frontline personnel and listing cartels as terrorists.

The CBSA has emphasized that Canada is not a significant source of fentanyl entering the U.S. and that less than one per cent of the drug seized in the U.S. comes from Canada.

Lewis said the CBSA can’t stop every vehicle for searches, so relying on intelligence-led investigations would be its best bet.

According to Global Affairs Canada, about 400,000 people cross the U.S.-Canada border every day.

Organized crime

The involvement of organized crime groups further complicates the issue, according to Lewis.

“They don’t have to worry about budgets. They don’t have to worry about bodies. They’ve got all kinds of money to make it happen,” Lewis said.

“We, on the other hand, as governments and security agencies, have to work under budgets, under legal frameworks and sometimes those don’t all jive when trying to identify and mitigate the effects of organized crime,” he added.