The Canada Border Services Agency could soon have to answer for its activities to an independent review board.

And that same board, currently tasked just with reviewing complaints from the public into the RCMP, is getting a new name to reflect its expanded mandate.

On Tuesday morning, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale tabled legislation in the House of Commons to rename the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission into the Public Complaints and Review Commission, and task it with probing the activities of Canadian border officials.

That comes after the Liberals promised in Budget 2019 to bring the border agency under independent external review.

In Budget 2019, the Liberals promised to spend $24.42 million over five years beginning this year to expand the mandate of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission, currently the external body tasked with investigating complaints from the public to the RCMP.

That expansion in funding would see the mandate amended so it can serve as an “independent review body for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency,” the budget stated.

An additional $6.83 million would be allocated to the expansion each year after those initial five.

Currently, the CBSA investigates complaints against itself but groups including the BC Civil Liberties Association have called in recent years for the agency to come under independent review, like other major Canadian law enforcement agencies have, given its sweeping powers.

— More to come … 

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