Border agency says system outage now resolved after some delays at major airports

Disembarking passengers line up to get through customs at Toronto’s Pearson airport after a systems outage shut down customs kiosks on Aug. 20, 2024. The outage forced border agents to process passengers’ customs information manually.  (CBC - image credit)
Disembarking passengers line up to get through customs at Toronto’s Pearson airport after a systems outage shut down customs kiosks on Aug. 20, 2024. The outage forced border agents to process passengers’ customs information manually. (CBC - image credit)

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says a partial systems outage that affected customs screening at some airports has been resolved.

The CBSA posted a message about the outage on social media Tuesday afternoon but provided little detail about the cause or extent of the problem. The agency announced that the problem had been resolved shortly before 4 p.m. ET.

"The partial systems outage has been resolved. Service has been restored. We thank travellers for their cooperation and apologize for any inconvenience experienced," the CBSA said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

A CBSA spokesperson told CBC News the cause of the outage is still being investigated but it wasn't a cyberattack.

According to a number of Canada's major airports, the outage shut down the kiosks that passengers use to fill out customs information upon arrival. The outage forced CBSA agents to process passengers' custom information manually.

Multiple airports — including Toronto's Pearson Airport, Halifax Stanfield International, Calgary International and Vancouver International — warned passengers that the outage could lead to delays at customs.

A spokesperson for Air Canada said the outage caused some "minor delays" for disembarking passengers. WestJet said only two flights were affected by the outage.