Border Law Enforcement

Border Law Enforcement contributes to the national security of Canada and protects Canadians from terrorism, organized crime and other border-related criminality, while allowing for the secure and effective international movement of people and goods. This is carried out in partnership with domestic and international government agencies, domestic stakeholders and the community at large.

The RCMP has a long and proud history of keeping watch over the border. For more than 135 years, the RCMP has been securing Canada's border. The RCMP's expanded security program as it looks today, tackles increasingly complex border investigations by:

  • securing the length of Canada's border (except for the ports of entry, the official customs checkpoints that are used when crossing the border);
  • addressing inbound and outbound criminal threats at the ports of entry, and collaborating with partners to investigate and track high-risk travellers;
  • working together with Canadian and American law enforcement partner agencies, like the US Border Patrol, on many joint operations;
  • maintaining and enhancing national and tactical awareness, in order to understand the potential threats along the border or from abroad, and prioritize the response to these threats; and,
  • identifying, investigating and interdicting persons, organizations and goods that either threaten the national security of one or both countries or that are involved in organized criminal activity.
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