Canadian border guards have been accused of hundreds of wrongdoings over the past two years – including preferential treatment and criminal association – according to documents obtained by CBC News.
Details of the cases – all of which were considered justified – were published under the Access to Information Act and cover the period from 1 January 2020 to 1 January 2022.
The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) said it had completed 92 well-founded investigations in the last fiscal year. Of these, 12 received verbal reprimands from border guards, 42 led to written reprimands, and 38 ended in removal.
This figure is significantly lower than the figure for 2020 – the first year in which there has been a reduction in travel due to the pandemic. In 2020, the CBSA reported 215 well-founded cases, leading to nine dismissals, 82 dismissals, 52 written reprimands and 27 verbal reprimands. (The numbers do not say what happened in the other cases.)
A CBSA spokesman said the agency considered the complaint “justified” if it found that “aspects” of it were “valid”.
Although details of these cases – including names and locations – have been edited in documents published on CBC News, they describe some alarming behavior at air and air checkpoints.
In one case, it was found that an employee had failed to properly handle passengers and vehicle plates – a key component of the work – for three years.
Another employee accessed the CBSA computer system to remove flags from someone’s file. Flags are indicators related to a person’s criminal or travel history that aim to warn CBSA staff that a particular passenger requires a closer look.
One major investigation report only states that the employee in question poses a “security risk” and could “damage the agency’s reputation”.
Relationships with the Angels of Hell
The documents also describe a number of well-founded cases of criminal association – including one involving an employee who “provides [a] fake name when stopped by police while having dinner with [a] a cocaine smuggler ”and another, including an officer associated with the Angels of Hell.
Several cases involve officers involved in sexual harassment – sexually assaulting a colleague while off duty in one case, spraying insect repellent on a colleague’s crotch, and sending sexually explicit messages or photos to others.
Other cases under investigation include interpersonal complaints, such as employees spreading rumors about each other.
The president of the Union of Customs and Immigration said he believed the CBSA’s approach to discipline sometimes went too far. (Daryl Dyke / Canadian Press)
Allegations are usually reviewed by CBSA management through the disciplinary process. If the allegations are serious enough, a senior investigator from the agency’s security and professional standards directorate launches a formal investigation.
“CBSA is responsible for tackling misconduct in the workplace and takes this commitment seriously. CBSA officials are investigating allegations of misconduct, “said CBSA spokesman Patrick Mahafi.
“Discipline is managed on a case-by-case basis and discipline is applied based on the gravity of the charges and takes into account mitigating and aggravating factors.”
Union leader says CBSA environment is “cold, clinical”
But Mark Weber, president of the Union of Customs and Immigration, said he believes the CBSA is going too far in its approach to discipline.
“Serious things are being investigated and many things that should not be formally investigated are also being investigated,” he said. “Discipline should not be punitive. It should be corrective.”
While Weber acknowledged that some of the identified cases were serious, he called the agency’s approach to the discipline “extreme.”
“Everything is very cold, clinical,” he said.
“Over the years, we have noticed that the agency has become very formal. Things that used to be decided between a manager and an employee with a conversation … “You could have done it differently and it would have been better” … everything in CBSA is centralized and has become an official email, a formal fact-finding which often happens weeks or months after the event.
The CBSA remains one of the only public safety agencies in Canada without an independent public oversight body.
While the National Security and Intelligence Agency monitors the CBSA’s national security activities, the public should take their complaints about CBSA services directly to the agency that handles them internally.
Last month, the federal government announced plans to reintroduce legislation that allows travelers and immigration detainees to complain to an independent body if they believe they have been abused by the Canadian Border Agency.
“Ultimately, this legislation is to strengthen our law enforcement agencies by increasing accountability, transparency … and will lead to a safer country for all,” said Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino, whose portfolio includes the CBSA.
New complaints committee in progress
Bill C-20 (previous versions died in the procurement document) will replace the Civil Review and Complaints Commission – the monitoring agency that sends public complaints about the RCMP – with a public complaints and review committee that will handle complaints for both the RCMP and the and for CBSA.
Weber said he was worried the C-20 would put even more pressure on the strained employer-employee relationship at CBSA.
“We have an employer that is already very tough on discipline,” he said. “Our members are regularly put on unpaid leave, sometimes for a year or more, pending the outcome of investigations.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino unveiled a bill last month that allows people to complain to an independent body if they believe they have been abused by the CBSA. (Sean Kilpatrick / Canadian Press)
If the bill is passed, the new Public Appeals and Review Commission will be able to review any CBSA activities that do not affect national security issues, either on the committee’s own initiative or at the request of the minister.
Weber said he would like the new body to take on management violations as well.
He said that if the complaint “points to a systemic problem”, the commission should address the issue “instead of focusing on one person with whom the passenger interacts”.
He said CBSA employees were often blocked, “working overtime” and sometimes treating “hundreds of people” a day.
“Depending on what happens in this circumstance, this may be the reason for the complaints,” he said.
Bill C-20 is still awaiting a second reading in the House of Commons.
Add Comment