Regulation 224 — Carriers — defence
Text of provision
(1) For the purposes of subsection 52(1) of the Act, an enforced departure order is a circumstance in which the foreign national is exempt from the requirement to obtain an authorization in order to return to Canada.
(2) A foreign national who is issued a departure order must meet the requirements set out in paragraphs 240(1)(a) to (c) within 30 days after the order becomes enforceable, failing which the departure order becomes a deportation order.
(3) If the foreign national is detained within the 30-day period or the removal order against them is stayed, the 30-day period is suspended until the foreign national’s release or the removal order becomes enforceable.
Plain English
Regulation 224 provides that a carrier is not liable under rr 222-223 if they can establish that they verified the traveller's documents in a manner prescribed by CBSA and had reasonable grounds to believe the documents were genuine and the person was admissible.
The good faith defence requires reasonable diligence, not perfection — carriers who are deceived by high-quality forged documents may avoid liability if they took reasonable steps.
Practical effect
The good faith defence is important because document fraud is sophisticated and widespread. Airlines that follow CBSA's TRACER document training and use automated document verification systems are better positioned to invoke this defence. The defence does not apply where the carrier made no reasonable effort to verify documents or where obvious defects were ignored.