Program directory · Canada Border Services Agency
Recourse
- Department
- Canada Border Services Agency
- Program code
- BUF09 (CBSA)
- Core responsibility
- Border Management
- In Departmental Plans
- 2018-19 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
The Recourse program provides a mechanism for clients to appeal the CBSA decisions as required under various legislation. The program provides travellers/individuals and the import/export community with an accessible mechanism to seek an impartial review of enforcement appeals, trade decisions and other program decisions taken by the CBSA. Individuals can complete a written submission if they disagree with an enforcement action, trade decision or program decision made by the CBSA.
Clients are provided with a timely acknowledgement of their correspondence, before the CBSA officials conduct a thorough review, taking into consideration the legislation administered by the Agency, the CBSA policies, the client’s point of view and, where necessary, technical opinions from the CBSA experts or legal advice from the Department of Justice.
Recourse Program staff have the delegated authority on behalf of the Minister or President to decide whether to uphold, overturn or amend the original action or decision. Individuals who are not satisfied with the CBSA’s review may appeal to the appropriate court, tribunal or external review body. The Recourse Program facilitates the review of the CBSA service-related complaints as well as the review of external complaints of discrimination filed with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. It also instructs the Department of Justice in representing the Agency on appeals to the Federal Court, various tribunals and other external bodies, and provides a harmonized national litigation management function.
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in GC InfoBase's actual spending by program in 2018-19. The data does not record when a program was created; it may be older than its first appearance here, which is limited by the sources (program spending starts in 2010-11, Departmental Plans in 2018-19).
| Program | Relation | Years with data | Actual spending over those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recourse | This program | 2018-19 – 2028-29 | $153M |
No earlier or later program in the same department has a similar name.
Significant changes in scope and budget
Detected from the data: renames between plans, programs it appears to replace, merge with or split into (matched by name), year-over-year changes in spending of at least 25% and $5M, or in employees of at least 20% and 25 FTEs, linked budget measures, and results indicators added or dropped.
| Year | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | Indicators added: Percentage of enforcement appeals received that are decided within established service standards | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2026-27 | Planned employees (FTEs) 181, against 142 in 2025-26 (+27%). | FTEs (GC InfoBase) |
Success criteria
The program's indicators from its department's Departmental Results Framework: the target set in each year's plan, and the result reported the following year. Source: GC InfoBase.
Historical: targets against results
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | ≥ 70% | 2021 | 62% The CBSA digitized its recourse process in 2020–21 to facilitate continued service delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic, which temporarily impacted productivity until implementation was complete. | Not met |
| 2021-22 | ≥ 70% | 2022 | 74% | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 70% | 2023 | 84% | Met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 70% | 2024 | 88% | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 70% | 2025 | 93% | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 80% | 2019 | — The 2018-19 results for trade appeals and enforcement appeals are 82% and 75% respectively. Going forward, the Agency intends to split this indicator into two separate indicators for trade appeals and enforcement appeals to better reflect performance as these lines of business are different in nature and are processed in a different manner. | No result reported |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 70% | 2020 | — The results for trade appeals and enforcement appeals are 85% and 71% respectively. Going forward, this indicator will be split into two separate indicators for trade appeals and enforcement appeals to better reflect performance as these lines of business are different in nature and are processed in a different manner. | No result reported |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 70% | 2021 | 82% | Met |
| 2021-22 | ≥ 70% | 2022 | 76% | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 70% | 2023 | 70% | Met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 70% | 2024 | 56% The result was impacted by increased workload and resource constraints. The CBSA is continuing efforts to enhance business processes for its Recourse Program. | Not met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 70% | 2025 | 48% The result was impacted by increased workload and resource constraints. The CBSA is implementing an action plan to improve program performance. | Not met |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 70% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 70% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Future goals: targets due after 2026-27
No targets with a later due date.
Spending and employees: planned against actual
Spending
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | $10.8M | $14.9M |
| 2019-20 | $13.3M | $18.6M |
| 2020-21 | $16.9M | $19.4M |
| 2021-22 | $19.8M | $24M |
| 2022-23 | $14.5M | $24.9M |
| 2023-24 | $21.5M | $24.6M |
| 2024-25 | $21.5M | $26.9M |
| 2025-26 | $24.5M | — |
| 2026-27 | $29.2M | — |
| 2027-28 | $30.1M* | — |
| 2028-29 | $30.3M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 119 | 120 |
| 2019-20 | 135 | 130 |
| 2020-21 | 139 | 123 |
| 2021-22 | 131 | 124 |
| 2022-23 | 120 | 126 |
| 2023-24 | 131 | 129 |
| 2024-25 | 134 | 136 |
| 2025-26 | 142 | — |
| 2026-27 | 181 | — |
| 2027-28 | 188* | — |
| 2028-29 | 189* | — |
Planned spending, plan by plan
Each row is one year's Departmental Plan and its forecast for the next three fiscal years; read a column down to see how the forecast for one year changed. The last row is what was actually spent. Click an amount for its source. Biggest changes in federal spending plans
| Plan | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 plan | $10,779,641 | $10,643,066 | $10,645,151 | ||||||||
| 2019-20 plan | $13,308,449 | $13,299,760 | $11,404,710 | ||||||||
| 2020-21 plan | $16,907,494 | $17,020,320 | $16,100,239 | ||||||||
| 2021-22 plan | $19,840,297 | $19,417,811 | $19,457,617 | ||||||||
| 2022-23 plan | $14,486,111 | $14,599,572 | $14,563,460 | ||||||||
| 2023-24 plan | $21,521,139 | $21,499,706 | $21,033,983 | ||||||||
| 2024-25 plan | $21,473,443 | $20,893,711 | $20,731,738 | ||||||||
| 2025-26 plan | $24,538,617 | $23,930,856 | $24,656,138 | ||||||||
| 2026-27 plan | $29,211,316 | $30,088,659 | $30,294,594 | ||||||||
| Actual | $14,856,236 | $18,629,356 | $19,437,621 | $24,036,022 | $24,903,644 | $24,617,143 | $26,943,625 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
