CBSA gives remote border permit program 11th-hour extension before pulling plug
· Toronto Sun
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OTTAWA — Originally intended to end in the middle of next month, a program allowing entry to remote stretches of Canada without physically presenting at a border crossing has been extended.
Late last year, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced 2026 would be the final year for their Remote Area Border Crossing (RABC) Program — a process that granted foreigners, mostly Americans, a permit to cross into Canada at five remote and isolated areas of Ontario and Manitoba without checking in with a border guard.
That program — and all issued permits — was intended to wrap on Sept. 13 , but a directive used by the CBSA this week has instead extended the expiry date to Nov. 30, with the program set to officially end on Dec. 1.
“As of this date, all travellers entering Canada through remote areas of northern Ontario or from the Northwest Angle into southern Manitoba, must report to the CBSA at a port of entry or a designated telephone reporting site,” read an excerpt from the CBSA’s notice.
Areas covered by RABC include the Canadian shores of Lake Superior; northern portions of the Soo Locks near Sault Ste. Marie; Pigeon River to Lake of the Woods, which forms part of the border between Minnesota and Ontario, near Thunder Bay; Cockburn Island on the northern tip of Lake Huron; and the Northwest Angle area abutting the northern shores of Lake of the Woods, located about 60 km southwest of Kenora.
New rules will align with American regulations
Under the RABC program, visitors do not need to physically present themselves at a border station, but still must declare any goods coming into Canada.
“Replacing the RABC Program with telephone reporting builds on processes already in place across Canada, where travellers are required to report to the CBSA from designated sites every time they enter Canada,” the CBSA said, adding the new process will ensure consistent levels of security and expectations of compliance for everyone.
“It is a measure that will also more closely align with how travellers report to U.S. Customs and Border Protection when entering the U.S. in remote areas.”
While locations of telephone-based reporting stations were to have been announced earlier this year, the CBSA promises that information will be made public in the coming months.
Around 11,000 people enroll in the RABC program annually, the CBSA said, 90% of whom are American.
Applicants typically include fishing guides, canoeists, outdoor sports enthusiasts and Americans who own property in remote parts of Canada.
Those who enter Canada under remote area permits are forbidden from travelling to other parts of Canada without presenting themselves to customs, and hunters are unable to import firearms without an in-person declaration at a port of entry.