SECU meeting 19 · 2025-12-09 — Committee Evidence — LegisWatch

Summary

The committee was studying the removal of foreign nationals involved in criminal activity, hearing from Brian Sauvé, President of the National Police Federation, which represents about 20,000 RCMP members.

Brian Sauvé testified that the RCMP plays a supporting role in removals through arrests, traffic stops, border interceptions, and high-risk removals, but that immigration enforcement must remain a federal responsibility with dedicated resources rather than being downloaded onto frontline community police officers. He made three specific recommendations: first, that Budget 2025's commitment to hire 1,000 new RCMP personnel be accompanied by fenced, dedicated federal funding for immigration-related enforcement; second, that Canada implement real-time, automated data sharing between CBSA and police systems, including immigration status flags in CPIC, and clarify privacy legislation to support timely information release for public safety; and third, that joint task forces like the RCMP-led extortion task force in British Columbia be expanded to other high-threat areas. He noted that RCMP involvement in removals is limited to arrest and transfer to CBSA, and that the RCMP does not track what happens after custody is transferred. He disagreed with a characterization that the border is a "sieve," clarifying that the RCMP and CBSA do a fantastic job but could benefit from better tools, and he supported satellite stations for officers near the southern Quebec border. He also noted that the RCMP's 2% budget cut under the responsible government spending initiative is focused on administrative efficiencies and should not impact operations, and that lawful access provisions in Bill C-2 are important for timely intelligence sharing with Five Eyes partners.

After the testimony, the committee debated a motion from Claude DeBellefeuille regarding the clause-by-clause study of Bill C-8. Following discussion, the committee reached unanimous consent to adopt the motion as amended by Rhonda Kirkland to add the words "unless otherwise decided by the committee" to the final paragraph, allowing flexibility to address other business if needed.

AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.

Witnesses · 1

Brian Sauvé

President, National Police Federation

Opening remarks

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Good afternoon. My name is Brian Sauvé. I'm the president of the National Police Federation, which represents about 20,000 members of the RCMP across Canada and internationally. While responsibility for removing foreign nationals rests with the CBSA under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the RCMP play an essential supporting role. RCMP involvement occurs in three main areas. The first is identifying bad actors during arrests, traffic stops, criminal investigations and intelligence work. The second is border interceptions, particularly between ports of entry, including those with criminal histories or ongoing investigations. The third is supporting high-risk removals by locating, arresting and securing individuals who pose a threat to public safety. In RCMP-contract provinces, these responsibilities often fall directly to our frontline police officers. This can add significant workload to detachments that are already facing high call volumes and other policing challenges. It also increases officer safety risks. Individuals avoiding deportation may flee, resist arrest or reoffend. This underscores that immigration…

Full testimony ↗

Public Safety and National Security

Summary

Witnesses · 1

Bills mentioned