A quarter of front-line workers surveyed at the Canada border agency said they had directly witnessed a colleague discriminate against a traveler in the previous two years. Of these respondents, 71 percent claimed discrimination is based, in whole or in part, on the traveler’s race, and just over three-quarters reported their national or ethnic origin. The data comes from a survey conducted as part of an internal evaluation of the Canada Border Services Agency, which examined how the agency processed travelers using a lens of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age and mental or physical disability and the interaction between these factors. The agency recently published the results of the assessment, which focused primarily on people flying into Canada, on its website. As part of the survey, 922 border services officers and supervisors were interviewed from March 2 to 22, 2020. Of those who said they saw a colleague discriminate, just over two in five did not report what they observed. Some reported fear of retaliation or simply feeling uncomfortable. Sixteen percent of those who saw discrimination reported what they saw. However, some of those respondents said they faced challenges in doing so or that their reports were not taken seriously or taken into account, the evaluation report says. The CBSA’s traveler processing activities are not intended to target individuals based on perceptions surrounding their race or ethnicity, the report states. The agency uses a combination of information sources, such as global trends and reports, to develop scenarios, which are systematically reviewed for human rights and other reasons. “However, some practices may have unintended consequences that result in racial communities being overrepresented in law enforcement,” the report states. For example, when targeting rates are higher for certain countries of origin, there could be unintended consequences for travelers of certain racial or ethnic groups when those groups make up a larger percentage of inbound travelers from those countries, he adds. The reviewers found that the agency could only conduct “very limited analysis” based on the racial or ethnic identity of travelers when using operational data. “If faced with public complaints or allegations of racial discrimination, the agency cannot prove or disprove with its own data whether its policies or practices discriminate against travelers because of the complexity of this issue. If the agency attempted to kind of analysis in the future, it will have to consider and develop new approaches to data collection, storage and analysis.” The CBSA People Processing Manual provides staff with guidance on being culturally aware of a traveller, prohibiting racial profiling and services provided to people with disabilities. The vast majority of survey respondents said they agree or somewhat agree that to do their job effectively, they need to recognize their personal and implicit biases. The assessment makes several recommendations, including a call for the development and implementation of a plan to improve awareness and reporting of the mistreatment and discrimination of travelers witnessed by border agency personnel without fear of retaliation. In a response included in the assessment report, the border agency agreed to develop such a plan and set a timeline for implementing changes this year. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 16, 2022.
