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I've recently read that Canada implemented the Entry/Exit Initiative, so the border agency has been collecting information via airline manifests (lists of passenger names with their date of births, passport data, etc.) on who left the country. However, when I return to Canada, I always have to fill out the declaration form which asks me for the date of my departure from Canada.

I'm wondering then, why do they still care to ask? For a counterexample, I never have to answer this question in the EU.

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    Related: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/111566/…. UK and US got rid of these forms 2+ years ago, Canada's just behind the times.
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented Aug 7, 2022 at 5:15
  • Paper declarations are becoming rare, if still used at all, in Canada as well, at least for major airports. I have not needed to fill them in the past few years flying to YYZ, YUL, YYC, YEG, YVR.
    – xngtng
    Commented Aug 7, 2022 at 13:51
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    But you might not have left the country by air.
    – user102008
    Commented Aug 7, 2022 at 17:59
  • @user102008, Canada also gets entry data from the CBP to use as records of land and ferry exits to the US, so there really aren't many exits of any sort they won't have data for.
    – user38879
    Commented Aug 7, 2022 at 22:49
  • @xngtng Really? There are machine kiosks on arrival, they prompt one to scan the declaration form after scanning the passport.
    – sequence
    Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 2:22

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There are several reasons why they ask: the most relevant is that when the form was designed, they either didn't have that information any other way, or didn't have it an easy way the officer could see while talking to you.

Of course, the form contains all kinds of information they could look up. For example, it asks for your flight information, even though you've provided your name so it could be looked up. Today's date, even though it's, you know, today.

The forms are becoming obsolete, so redesigning them to ask for less and less information is not going to happen.

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