Think that Canada’s border agents, the CBSA, are radically different from ICE?
Desmond Cole explains how the Canada Border Security Agency works, often in tandem with ICE, to detain and deport migrants, sometimes with lethal consequences.
CORRECTION: This piece states that Calgary police concluded Bolante Alo died of natural causes. In fact, police reported the findings of the chief medical examiner that Alo had died of natural causes. A separate police investigation determined CBSA officers were not responsible for Alo’s death.
Although parliament approved a CBSA oversight agency and complaints process in October of 2024, the agency in fact has not been created and received no funding in the 2025 budget.
When I went to journalism school 10 years ago, my parents thought that they would eventually read my articles in The Montreal Gazette. Today, that newspaper is a husk of its former self. But I get to explain that I’m working towards critical, independent, and sustainable journalism.
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– Amanda Siino, Development Director, The Breach
