The Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) is changing the hours you can cross the border at dozens of crossings between Canada and the United States, starting next year.
The CBSA said in a statement Monday that it “intends to adjust hours of service at 35 land ports of entry across Canada” starting midnight on Jan. 6, 2025.
The changes are being brought into effect in collaboration with the United States, the CBSA said.
“It will allow the CBSA to use its resources more efficiently by deploying officers at busier ports of entry. This will support the CBSA’s ability to process travellers and goods as well as to manage enforcement activities,” the agency said in a statement.
CBSA said the adjustments are based on “an analysis of operational pressures, peak periods, and services required at the ports of entry, to minimize the impacts on border communities.”
The news comes after Immigration Minister Marc Miller said last week that the federal government may be looking at boosting enforcement resources to crack down on irregular migrants who don’t leave Canada, and addressed the need for mutual enforcement of the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S.
The government has been pressed by opposition parties and provinces on its plan to add additional resources at the U.S.-Canada border in anticipation of a potential increase in people seeking to enter Canada from the U.S., where president-elect Donald Trump has vowed mass deportations.
Canada’s public safety minister told The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson last week that he’s confident in the work of agencies tasked with detaining and removing people in the country illegally and preventing security threats crossing into the U.S., but will boost enforcement resources if necessary.
Dominic LeBlanc says that work by the RCMP and CBSA should prove to the incoming Donald Trump administration — whose newly appointed “border czar” has called the Canada-U.S. border a “huge national security issue” — that Ottawa shares their concerns about border security.
“I’m very confident in the work that they can do with their American counterparts, and we’ll reassure the American administration that we’re prepared to do the work that’s necessary,” LeBlanc said.
Which border crossing will see the changes?
The new hours of service (in local time) will be as follows:
Alberta
Del Bonita
Travellers: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 7 days a week
British Columbia
Cascade
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 7 days a week
Nelway
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., 7 days a week
Manitoba
Cartwright
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 7 days a week
Coulter
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 7 days a week
Commercial: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday (except holidays)
Crystal City
Travellers: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 7 days a week
Goodlands
Travellers: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 7 days a week
Gretna
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., 7 days a week
Lena
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 7 days a week
Commercial: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday (except holidays)
Piney
Travellers: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 7 days a week
Snowflake
Travellers: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 7 days a week
South Junction
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 7 days a week
Tolstoi
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., 7 days a week
Windygates
Travellers: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 7 days a week
Winkler
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 7 days a week
Quebec
Chartierville
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 7 days a week
Clarenceville
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 7 days a week
Frelighsburg
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 7 days a week
Herdman
Travellers: 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., 7 days a week
Hereford Road
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 7 days a week
Highwater
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 7 days a week
Lacolle Route 221
Travellers: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., 7 days a week
Lacolle Route 223
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 7 days a week
Noyan
Travellers: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 7 days a week
Trout River
Travellers: 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., 7 days a week
New Brunswick
Bloomfield
Travellers: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday (except Canadian and U.S. holidays)
Commercial: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday (except Canadian and U.S. holidays)
Gillespie Portage
Travellers: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., 7 days a week
Fosterville
Travellers (7 days a week):
- 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., last Monday of May to first Monday of September
- 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., remainder of the year
Commercial (7 days a week):
- 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., last Monday of May to first Monday of September
- 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., remainder of the year
St. Croix
Travellers: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 7 days a week
Commercial: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday
Saskatchewan
Carievale
Travellers (7 days a week)
- 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., second Sunday of March to first Saturday of November
- 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., remainder of the year
Estevan Highway
Travellers (7 days a week)
- 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., second Sunday of March to first Saturday of November
- 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., remainder of the year
Monchy
Travellers (Monday to Friday)
- 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., second Sunday of March to first Saturday of November
- 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., remainder of the year
Commercial (Monday to Friday, except holidays)
- 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., second Sunday of March to first Saturday of November
- 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., remainder of the year
Northgate
Travellers (7 days a week)
- 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. , second Sunday of March to first Saturday of November
- 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., remainder of the year
Commercial (Monday to Friday, except holidays)
- 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., second Sunday of March to first Saturday of November
- 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., remainder of the year
Oungre
Travellers (7 days a week)
- 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., second Sunday of March to first Saturday of November
- 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., remainder of the year
West Poplar River
Travellers (7 days a week)
- 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., second Sunday of March to first Saturday of November
- 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., remainder of the year
Commercial (Monday to Friday, except holidays)
- 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., second Sunday of March to first Saturday of November
- 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., remainder of the year
With files from Global’s Sean Boynton