Ottawa, Canada — Border officers say a recent Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) system outage may have caused potential security flags to be missed for truck drivers entering from the United States.
The technical failure, which began on September 28, left officers unable to access key data, forcing them to process travellers manually. According to Mark Weber, national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, the outage meant officers had no access to security lookouts or alerts while trucks continued crossing into Canada.
“When the system is down, we’re not getting the information on potential security lookouts or flags,” Weber said, adding that by the time data became available, “the trucks were already inside the country.”
The CBSA confirmed the outage lasted about 48 hours and led to delays of up to 38 hours for commercial trucks. The agency said the issue stemmed from technical problems during routine maintenance and was not a cyberattack.
Weber, echoing concerns from the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), urged the federal government to modernize the border agency’s aging IT systems. “The system officers use is from the ’90s and prone to outages. I think this was one of the worst ones we’ve seen,” he said.
Following the incident, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc ordered the CBSA to submit a report within 30 days, outlining the cause of the disruption and plans to prevent future occurrences. The CTA welcomed the decision, noting that with trade tensions and upcoming CUSMA negotiations, reliable cross-border systems are crucial.
“We hope this report finally addresses long-standing concerns from the trade community. This type of disruption cannot happen again,” said Lak Shoan, CTA’s director of policy and industry awareness.
Impact on Logistics and Trade
The outage also created operational chaos for trucking companies. Steve Ondejko, CEO of Onfreight Logistics in Tecumseh, Ontario, said one of his trucks was delayed for over five hours on the U.S. side of the Ambassador Bridge.
“It was a huge problem adding multiple hours for multiple trucks,” Ondejko said. “It created operational havoc.”
He explained that such breakdowns, though rare, cause significant financial strain by forcing companies to deploy additional drivers and vehicles to meet delivery schedules.
Ondejko highlighted that while infrastructure like the Gordie Howe International Bridge will improve logistics, technological efficiency at border checkpoints remains vital. “A fantastic bridge is great, but if you can’t move the trucks through efficiently, it defeats the purpose,” he added.
The CBSA outage has reignited calls for major investment in digital border infrastructure to ensure security, trade stability, and smoother Canada-U.S. cross-border movement.
