OTTAWA — The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is sharing an update on recent IT systems outages.

Over the past week the CBSA has experienced IT systems outages resulting in delays for travellers, and commercial processing.

As the CBSA notes, the outages started following unforeseen technical problems during routine systems maintenance on Sept. 28. “They were not the result of a cyberattack,” according to a CBSA statement.

While the initial outages were resolved within 48 hours, the impacts on kiosks at airports and on commercial processing at some ports of entry continued as the CBSA worked to address the backlogs that were created.

During the outages, the CBSA says it worked with airport authorities and bridge and tunnel operators to manage delays and complete screening and verifications. Lanes were staffed with border services officers who manually processed travellers, traffic and shipments.

“Regular operations have resumed, traveller and commercial volumes are back to normal and systems are back to service standards. We continue to investigate the causes of the outages and will provide a report to the Minister of Public Safety within 30 days,” says the agency.

“The CBSA is working closely with SSC to reduce the risk of future outages, to minimize any system downtime, and also to strengthen our contingency plans based on the experience gained from these recent outages.”

The CBSA thanked all travellers, truckers, partners and stakeholders for their cooperation and patience during the outages, and apologized for the inconveniences.