The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is responsible for removing any foreign national who is in Canada illegally, as soon as possible. Removing individuals who do not have the right to enter or stay in Canada is essential to maintaining the integrity of Canada's immigration program and to ensuring fairness for those who come to this country lawfully.
This page provides comprehensive statistics collected by the CBSA's removals program. It shows calendar year data for six years, as well as quarterly statistics for 2026, the latest year for which data are available.
Removals by region
The following table provides annual removal volumes for the CBSA's seven regions.
Table 1.1: Total enforced removals by region (calendar year: 2020 to 2025 and quarterly for 2026)
Under Canadian immigration regulations, there are three types of removal orders. There are strict requirements for each type that determine if or how an individual can re-enter Canada.
Departure orders
These orders require the individual to leave Canada within 30 days after the order becomes enforceable. If the individual does not leave Canada within 30 days, a deportation order is issued.
Exclusion orders
These orders dictate that the individual cannot return to Canada for 1 year unless they obtain a written authorization to return. If the exclusion order is issued because the individual has misrepresented themselves, they will not be allowed to return to Canada for 5 years.
Deportation orders
These orders permanently bar the individual from returning to Canada, unless they obtain written authorization to return Canada.
Table 3.1: Total enforced removals by removal order type (calendar year: 2020 to 2025 and quarterly for 2026)
The CBSA can enforce a removal order in three ways:
confirm a foreign national's departure from Canada and issue a certificate of departure
enforce a removal order at a Canadian mission abroad, when a foreign national leaves Canada without confirming their departure
administratively enforce the removal of individuals who "self-deported" (chose to leave Canada), if sufficient evidence exists to prove that they are no longer in Canada
The majority of individuals leave Canada on their own after being ordered to do so. However, in about 10% of cases, officers are assigned to escort foreign nationals out of the country. The CBSA uses a risk assessment matrix and considers multiple, evolving situational factors to determine if an escort is needed.
Table 5.1: Total enforced removals by escorted or unescorted (calendar year: 2020 to 2025 and quarterly for 2026)
To track and manage the removal program effectively, the CBSA maintains various inventories. The status of an individual may change over time and so the same individual may appear in different inventories depending on their current status.
The Not yet actionable inventory
This inventory includes individuals that fall outside of the enforcement stream. These include, but are not limited to, individual who have a pending refugee application or who have been recognized as a refugees in Canada.
Removal not possible inventory
This inventory includes individuals that cannot currently be removed. These include, but are not limited to, pending Federal Court appeals, criminal charges, or Pre-Removal Risk Assessments, and sentences of imprisonment.
Wanted inventory
This inventory includes individuals who failed to appear for removal proceedings and the CBSA is working to locate the foreign national.
Removals in progress inventory
This inventory includes individuals who can be processed for removal. At this stage, CBSA works with the individual and foreign countries to overcome challenges to removal, including but not limited to, the issuance of travel documents.
