First in a series on what can be learned from requesting personal records from the government.

When I arrive at the border and a Canada Border Services agent starts typing into his computer, what is it he’s recording about me? To find out, I requested my entire file, as I’m entitled to do under the federal Privacy Act.

More specifically, I requested “Travel history, file numbers, time periods, notes or records from border agents.” The request took about three minutes to make on a government website that allows you to seek records from most federal agencies.

Three weeks later, a letter-sized envelope arrived in the mail from the Canada Border Services Agency.

Folded together neatly inside was a cover letter, a record of my trips across the border, and an explanation of the information about the trips.

The cover letter felt a bit more human than the formulaic response we’re used to getting from the government. It included the name and phone number of a person I could contact with questions, who would be “pleased to assist you.” The letter was signed “Yours truly” by Sylvie (I think, the signature is hard to decode) on behalf of Lyne Charlebois, a manager at the CBSA Privacy Division.

The letter was dated Feb. 25, when Ottawa was freezing. I automatically thought: Sylvie, how dark and cold it must be for you in Ottawa, and Lyne, I hope you are vacationing someplace warm.

The record they mailed me is an itinerary of trips I’ve made over the border, along with details such as the officer’s ID, the lane I was in, and government acronyms. For example, there is something called “FOSS Live,” and every time I crossed the border it was marked off as “Y”. The document itself is titled “ICES Traveler History.”

The third page seems to be a guide to help me make sense of what’s in my record of border crossing. However, the guide does little to decode what the travel records say. For example when it comes to “FOSS Live”, “Y” means “Live FOSS” and “No” means “Stored FOSS in ICES”.

FOSS, I learned at a non-government website, stands for Field Operations Support System, a database shared by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and CBSA, which contains information on immigration records and violations.

ICES stands for Integrated Customs Enforcement System, a national dababase that contains information on Canadians that have been in contact with CBSA or people who might pose a risk if allowed to enter the country. It includes records of every vehicle that has entered the country, and theoretically its passengers, and all customs seizures over the past five years.

Overall, it’s good that CBSA provides records, but without an explanation saying what the information means, it’s hard to find it that useful.

If you would like to share a copy of your border records with the Star, contact cdesson@thestar.ca



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