Thank you, Madam Chair, for the invitation to appear again before this committee.

Today, I'd like to begin with a few observations about how the CBSA, the Canada Border Services Agency, continues to work closely and productively with its partners, both domestically and in the United States. Every day, border services officers at ports of entry across Canada protect Canadian communities by keeping dangerous people and goods out of the country.

But we don’t operate alone. Organized crime is a multi-jurisdictional endeavour. It would be unrealistic to think that one agency—even one country—could thwart their efforts. That’s why the CBSA works in lockstep with domestic and international law enforcement partners.

For example, domestically, the CBSA conducted eight joint operations with the Ontario Provincial Police and the Sûreté du Québec just this year alone. Working together, we intercepted hundreds of stolen vehicles and thousands of kilograms of illegal drugs.

Just this past Monday, CBSA officers in British Columbia made a major seizure of contraband and prohibited weapons, thanks to collaboration with the RCMP’s federal serious and organized crime division.

I would like to add that on the same day, at Hamilton International Airport, we seized six kilograms of suspected cannabis in three different shipments destined for France, among several other seizures that day. I could go on.

I will give you another international example. In 2023, my counterpart with the New Zealand Customs Service wrote to CBSA, thanking us for sharing vital and timely intelligence that resulted in the largest single drug seizure in New Zealand’s history: over 700 kilograms of methamphetamines.

We collaborate with countries around the world to stop the illegal import and export of drugs and other criminal activities all the time. What’s more, CBSA officers are deployed in 40 missions in 35 countries, which is our way of pushing the border out and preventing criminal elements from coming in the first place.

It goes without saying that our closest collaboration is with the United States. The cooperation between CBSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been going on for a very long time, spanning the entire continent. We talk to each other regularly, at ports of entry, at my level, and everywhere in between.

We have several CBSA officials deployed across the United States, including two officers embedded within the U.S. CBP targeting center in Washington. They collaborate in the international effort to target and track illegal drugs.

The CBSA and its U.S. counterpart are jointly planning infrastructure investments. We've harmonized our work hours at ports of entry and coordinated our operations.

In some areas, our officers share the same building. Sometimes the border even cuts through the boardroom: in one case, one half in Canada and the other half in the United States. Our two agencies are co-located in Little Gold Creek in Yukon, where the Top of the World Highway connects Canada and Alaska. We're literally working side by side.

The CBSA’s collaboration goes beyond its partner agency, the U.S. CBP. We work with Homeland Security Investigations, the Coast Guard, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Our partnership with the U.S. is a two-way relationship characterized by frank and open communication and ongoing problem-solving, and that will serve us very well going forward.

Thank you.

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