Photo credit to Toronto Star
Heron Law Offices’ Principal Lawyer, Will Tao, was recently quoted in a Toronto Star article by Senior Immigration Reporter Nicholas Keung, discussing the Canada Border Services Agency’s planned “Traveller Compliance Indicator” (TCI). Please note: this news story is accessible only to Toronto Star subscribers.
The tool, expected to roll out nationally by 2027, uses artificial intelligence to assign compliance scores to everyone entering Canada and flag “higher risk” travellers for further inspection.
While the CBSA describes the TCI as a way to improve efficiency at borders, Will cautions that the system could reinforce bias and have disproportionate consequences for immigrants and non-citizen travellers.
As Will explained:
“If you’ve historically been very critical over a certain group, then that will be in the data and we’ll transfer that into the tool. You look for the problems and you find problems where you’re looking, right?”
He also noted that, unlike Canadian citizens who may only face inconvenience if flagged, non-citizens could face far more serious consequences:
“If you are a Canadian citizen, and let’s say you’ve had like a money laundering situation where you brought in too much currency, you’ll be inconvenienced by having your bags flipped and asked a lot of questions. But legally speaking you’ll be allowed to come back into Canada. But for immigrants who don’t have a right to enter Canada, the secondary examination could be the trigger point of inadmissibility.”
Will further warned that if the tool provides only “boilerplate reasons” for why a traveller is flagged, this could create challenges in court cases reviewing officers’ decisions:
“…if those reasons are actually an officer rationalizing ex post to obscure what the machine’s real concerns are.”
At Heron Law Offices, we remain committed to monitoring the intersection of AI, immigration law, and procedural fairness. As Canada moves toward greater reliance on predictive analytics in border management, it is vital to ensure transparency, accountability, and meaningful recourse for travellers who may be unfairly targeted by these tools.
