The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, agreed to widen cooperation on migration and cross-border crime in a deal building on ties dating to 2010.
The two agencies signed the Working Arrangement on Operational Cooperation in Montreal on Oct. 30, during the European Union-Canada summit. CBSA President Erin O’Gorman and Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens signed the document.
The arrangement covers exchanges on migration and criminal threats, along with research, technology and border-management practices. It also provides for staff training and professional exchanges, with privacy and data-protection safeguards. EUROSUR, the European Border Surveillance System, is named as a channel for sharing information and analysis.
The agencies’ cooperation began with an agreement signed in Warsaw in 2010, CBSA says. That arrangement enabled exchanges about fraudulent documents used to enter Canada and supported Frontex and other European organizations’ work against organized crime.
One existing initiative, Project FIELDS, brings Frontex and Interpol together to help border and police officers assess documents for signs of fraud. CBSA’s National Document Centre is contributing visual reference materials on identity-document security features. CBSA and Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada have also shared Canadian electronic travel authorization risk and intelligence trends with Frontex’s European Travel Information and Authorization System central unit.
The agreement also supports an observer exchange in which CBSA and Frontex personnel shadow each other at airports and other border locations in Europe and Canada. Frontex has active cooperation arrangements with authorities in 17 countries outside the European Union, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
O’Gorman said the agreement strengthens Canada’s border security and sovereignty. Leijtens said criminal networks adapt their methods and technology, making cooperation and shared expertise important.
The signing delivers on an item from the 2025 Canada-EU summit, held in Brussels, and supports a wider security partnership between Canada and the EU.
