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Home   Newsroom 2005 News releases (archive) 2005-07-11: Fairness Initiative
Toronto, Ontario, July 11, 2005 -- The Honourable Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and Minister responsible for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), announced today the launch of a consultation process on a new Fairness Initiative to ensure that Canadians and visitors to Canada are treated fairly and can expect to receive the best possible service when crossing the border and in all other dealings with the CBSA. This Initiative includes a series of proposed commitments on how people should expect to be treated by the CBSA. The CBSA will start consulting immediately with clients and stakeholders, including members of the Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security and ethno-cultural communities, in order to obtain their feedback. These consultations will be conducted across the country until the fall. The CBSA wants to ensure its clients’ views and perceptions are taken into consideration in the development of a comprehensive, unbiased and transparent Fairness Initiative. The CBSA’s commitment to fairness is based on six pillars: respect and courtesy, fair application of the law, privacy and confidentiality, bilingual service, accurate information about entitlements and obligations, and review of our actions or decisions. “Everyone should expect to be treated fairly by the CBSA,” said Minister McLellan. “By implementing this Initiative, the CBSA will be strengthening its accountability to all Canadians and visitors at the border. CBSA Officers are the first point of contact at the border and we want to ensure that people entering Canada are treated fairly,” added Minister McLellan. The CBSA was created on December 12, 2003. As a new organization, the CBSA needs to put in place a Fairness Initiative that reflects our new roles and responsibilities. The CBSA will use the results of the consultation process to develop its Fairness Initiative and the mechanisms that will be implemented to ensure transparency. At the same time, the CBSA is working on improving its complaint and compliment mechanisms to provide a system that is more accessible and accountable. The CBSA will develop tools to make it easier for clients to contact the CBSA should they have any comments. Until the Fairness Initiative is fully implemented, the CBSA encourages clients to provide feedback on how they were treated at the border, or in any other dealing with the CBSA, by speaking with a manager on-site or by contacting the local CBSA office at a later date. “I want to thank the Honourable Roy Cullen, Parliamentary Secretary and Member of Parliament for Etobicoke North, for his longstanding commitment to this initiative. I also wish to thank him for agreeing to be engaged in the consultation process,” said Deputy Prime Minister McLellan. “The Fairness Initiative is a testament to a commitment within the public safety portfolio to strengthen our relationship with Canadians,” added Deputy Prime Minister McLellan. “We are determined that Canada’s approach to safety and security reflect Canadian values of fairness and respect, and that it be sensitive to both the needs of Canadians and the diversity of our society.” The Fairness Initiative is one of a series of measures that have been undertaken within the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada portfolio to engage Canadians in the on-going development of a balanced approach to safety and security. From the launch of the department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness in December 2003, and the subsequent announcement of Canada’s National Security Policy in the spring of 2004, the Government has been emphatic in its resolve to enlist the help and support of all Canadians to ensure that our approach to national security and public safety remains effective. See also:
For media information: Alex Swann
Office of the Honourable Anne McLellan
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety
and Emergency Preparedness
(613) 991-2863 Helen Leslie
CBSA Media Relations
(613) 957-6500
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