Since its formation in 2003, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has been the only major federal law enforcement organization in the country without an arms-length watchdog agency. The recent passage of the Public Complaints and Review Commission Act addresses this gap in accountability by extending the oversight model of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to the CBSA. The new Public Complaints and Review Commission (PCRC) will oversee complaint investigations into the conduct of CBSA and RCMP employees and lead program-level reviews of their operations. The PCRC is an important step forward for democratic accountability in Canadian law enforcement. However, existing police oversight models that place a strong emphasis on individual officer conduct must adapt to the unique context of the border. The complex and highly digitized nature of many decisions at the border alongside the CBSA’s dual law enforcement and national security mandate present unique challenges to oversight that must be accounted for in the design of the PCRC.
