The National President of the Customs and Immigration Union (CIU) is calling on the Minister of Public Safety and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to increase the number of border services officers assigned to Canadian airports to alleviate the pressure on both airport personnel and travellers.

"It is absolutely irresponsible of the federal government to let the situation stand as it is," said Mark Weber, CIU National President.

"These delays are a source of frustration for all and contribute to the considerable overcrowding of already busy airports. I urge Minister Mendicino and CBSA to increase the number of border officers and review the infrastructure in place in order to speed up the processing of travellers."

The Customs and Immigration Union (CIU) is a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), and represents Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) personnel, including frontline border service officers at airports.

The CIU says the current situation was foreseeable: “Over the past decade, the number of officers assigned to passenger operations has decreased dramatically,” it says in a statement.

“At present, at Toronto's Pearson International Airport alone, CIU estimates that fewer than 300 officers are active in the passenger operations section — nearly half of the number needed to process inbound travellers in a timely manner, and far less than were present just six years ago.”

This is not unique to Toronto either, the union says, with both Vancouver and Montreal facing similar staffing issues.

"The reality is that even with the eventual lifting of current public health measures, significant delays will likely persist, not only due to the critical shortage of officers in most border operations across the country, but also due to an over-reliance on inefficient technologies," explained Mark Weber, adding that the union estimates an officer can process a traveller twice as fast as the automated Primary Inspection Kiosks.

“During busy times,” the union says, “such kiosks also take away valuable space from travellers waiting to go through customs, causing an overflow of travellers outside of the customs area. In addition, many have noted that the new ArriveCan application makes the process more complex for travellers, adding to already substantial delays.”

The union adds that while both these technologies may have a role to play, they are no substitute for the expertise of a trained officer.

“Ultimately, it should come as no surprise that there are significant delays in inbound traveller operations when few officers are assigned to primary inspection, with many booths remaining empty at peak times. With travel resuming in force, the situation is likely to worsen, and the primary solution is to ensure that enough border officers are available to process travellers at all major international airports in Canada,” the CIU concluded.