News Release

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) releases 2011 calendar year-end statistics for New Brunswick

Saint John and Woodstock, New Brunswick, March 21, 2012 – The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) reports that in 2011, more than 2.7 million passenger cars, 716 aircraft, 1,800 boats, and 260 trains— carrying more than 5.1 million travellers, and 190,000 commercial shipments—entered Canada via New Brunswick (by land, air, or marine ports of entry).

Canada's border services officers examine all persons and goods seeking entry to Canada at ports of entry, and some may be referred for more in-depth examinations, known as secondary examinations. These examinations may be for customs, immigration, or on behalf of another government department such as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Secondary examinations of individual travellers resulted in a total of 1138 seizure actions. Of these, 72 were drug-related, 23 were weapons-related, nine were child pornography seizures, and a large number of seizures were related to the undervaluing of goods such as clothing and household items, or motor vehicles and boats.

CBSA officers in New Brunswick removed 52 persons from Canada, and prevented 1106 persons from entering Canada.

In 2011, CBSA criminal investigations cases in New Brunswick resulted in 23 convictions under the Customs Act and 13 convictions under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

CBSA officers carried out a total of 15 seizures related to commercial shipments, including three drug-related seizures, and six that were alcohol-related.

In August, 19 kilograms of cocaine was seized from a shipment at the Port of Saint John. In October, an additional nine kilograms of cocaine was seized. In both cases, the drugs were concealed in hollowed-out pineapples.

Travel Tips

After an absence from Canada of 24 hours, you may bring back $50 worth of goods duty- and tax-free; after 48 hours, your personal exemption is $400; and after an absence of seven days, you are entitled to $750 worth of duty- and tax-free goods. There are no personal exemptions for same-day purchases.

The CBSA reminds travellers to truthfully declare all purchases and goods received outside of Canada upon their return. Smuggling, undervaluation and other Customs Act offences may lead to seizure and/or prosecution in a court of law. A record of infractions is kept in the CBSA computer system. If you have an infraction record, you may have to undergo a more detailed examination on future trips.

New regulations are in place related to certain foreign nationals who do not meet the requirements to overcome their criminal inadmissibility, to be allowed to enter Canada with a one-time only, fee-exempt temporary resident permit. For more information, please visit the Citizenship and Immigration Canada Web site.

Please refer to the I Declare brochure on the CBSA Web site for more information.

Anyone with information about suspicious cross-border activity is encouraged to call the CBSA Border Watch Toll-free Line at 1-888-502-9060.

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For further information

CBSA Communications, Atlantic Region
902-426-0900

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