Customs Union Wants Changes After One in Five Border Guards Flunk Firearms Course

(Canadian Press)

The union representing Canada’s border guards says it is concerned about the relatively high number of officers who are flunking the firearms training program.

Ron Moran, national president of the Customs and Excise Union, said slightly more than 20 per cent of the guards who have taken the course on precision shooting have failed, possibly jeopardizing their careers with the Canada Border Services Agency.

“As it stands now, a little more than one in five don’t pass,” Moran said in an interview.

“It’s a huge concern for those who are next in line for those classes and basically see their employment hanging in the balance.”

Moran said the union has hired an expert to review the training program, which he described as a condensed version of the same course given to RCMP recruits.

The border guards are being asked to master precision shooting in just eight days, compared with the 16 weeks RCMP recruits have to achieve the same level of accuracy, he said.

“They (the border guards) have to qualify at 25 metres and shoot, I think, it’s 250 rounds and hit the target with 80 per cent accuracy - it’s something along those lines,” Moran explained.

“It becomes an endurance challenge. Some of our people don’t have the physical endurance to keep their arms straight with the weight of the sidearm when they get into second half of shooting their rounds. They lose their precision.”

He said the failure rate is making guards who have yet to take the course nervous.

The federal government has announced that about 4,800 border officers - including those working at land and marine ports of entry, and inland enforcement officers - will be trained and equipped with firearms over the next few years.

Melisa Leclerc, a spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, said the department will be interested in any recommendations the union’s expert makes about the firearms training program.

But she said Monday improvements already have been made to the program as a result of the first two groups of trainees who went through the course.

One hundred and four volunteer trainees took the course in July and August and there are now 80 armed border guards at some of Canada’s busiest crossings.

Ottawa hopes to have at least 350 guards manning ports of entry by this time next year.
“We have made some adjustments,” Leclerc said in an interview.

“Some more will graduate at the end of this month and we will gather feedback from them. We’re always looking at ways to improve it.”

Leclerc said the Canada Border Services Agency has taken several measures to improve the training program, including more coaching on shooting fundamentals to better prepare guards for their qualification sessions.

As well, she said the program has been adjusted to provide 12 additional hours of range time spread out over 14 days.

The guards who failed will have a second opportunity to pass the shooting test, but Moran believes they should have at least two more chances since he does not believe they were properly prepared for the rigorous course.

“They were guinea pigs,” he said.

Moran said the border guards are pleased to see the training program finally underway. It is something many of them have wanted for a long time, he said.

The move to arm Canadian border guards grew after a spate of incidents where agents were forced to flee their posts after warnings of armed criminals approaching the border from the U.S. side.

Last September, about 60 border guards in B.C.’s Lower Mainland fled their posts after it was rumoured armed fugitives were heading from the U.S. into Canada.

U.S. border guards have been armed for many years.

Full implementation of the initiative is expected to take place over a period of 10 years.