Canadians will soon be able to lodge complaints with an independent watchdog if they feel they were mistreated by a border officer.

Tucked away in the Liberals' 2019 budget, tabled Tuesday, was an announcement that Ottawa will assign an independent review agency to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

The government is promising $24.42 million over five years, starting in 2019-20, and $6.83 million per year after that, to expand the mandate of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC), which fields complaints regarding the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The announcement follows stories about questionable behaviour by CBSA officers, which have been investigated by the agency itself...

This was excerpted from the 20 March 2019 edition of CBC News.