Hundreds of travellers across Canada faced long delays this weekend as technical issues led to the temporary shutdown of Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) electronic inspection kiosks at several major airports, requiring officers to process passengers manually.
The CBSA kiosk malfunctions started at 4 p.m. EST on Sept. 28 and impacted kiosks across the country including in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City, the agency said.
“This failure was caused by an unexpected technical issue during routine maintenance,” CBSA spokesperson Guillaume Bérubé wrote in a Sept. 29 statement provided to The Epoch Times. “We worked to restore connectivity as quickly as possible.”
Bérubé added that the system glitch was resolved as of 2 a.m. on Sept. 29, and said “there is no indication that the incident was the result of a cyberattack.”
One traveller on a West Jet flight that landed in Toronto urged the airline to “do better” in a Sept. 28 X post, saying the passengers were left waiting on the plane for more than an hour after landing at Pearson International Airport.
West Jet responded to the passenger on X, saying the situation with the border kiosk malfunction led to the delay.
“Due to a CBSA system outage, customs at Toronto are at full capacity. The airport has paused deplaning until space is available. We’re truly sorry for the delay and appreciate your patience,” West Jet posted in response to the traveller’s complaint.
The CBSA’s electronic inspection kiosks, also known as e-gates, are used to verify traveller identity and receive customs declarations to speed up processing times during international travel to and from Canada.
The CBSA said the disruption was handled as efficiently as possible, with agents working with airport management to minimize delays.
“During the outage, travelers were redirected to primary inspection lines for manual processing,” Bérubé said. “Security and safety standards were upheld at all times, and border services officers worked to verify travelers’ identities, receive their declarations, and perform any additional screening warranted by each traveler’s circumstances.”
The CBSA said in a Sept. 28 X post that while the problems have been resolved, “travellers may continue to experience delays in the short term as we resume normal processing operations.”
A previous three-and-a-half hour disruption to the electronic inspection kiosks across Canada in August of last year also led to delays for numerous passengers coming in and out of Canada. CBSA said at the time that a cyberattack was not involved in the glitch.
