Thu Apr 22 2010
The complaints, obtained by the Star through an Access to Information request, include accounts of officers cursing and yelling at Canadians and visitors, and threatening them with sniffer dogs or arrest for seemingly minor infractions - or for even having the temerity to ask a question.
There were 1,421 complaints filed with the CBSA in 2008-09, down slightly from 1,607 the previous year.
Travellers also complained of being scolded like schoolchildren, having their cars and personal belongings ripped apart and thrown helter-skelter. But it's the personal degradation that appears to bother people the most.
The complaints also included the following:
[SIZE=+2]•[/SIZE] “As a Canadian, I was appalled at the attitude, tone and disrespectful manner in which this officer performed (or did not perform) her duties. To put it bluntly, she was a bully on a power trip,” wrote a Canadian resident who returned on a bus from a three-day shopping to New York State.
[SIZE=+2]•[/SIZE] “‘You're coming into my country and that's how you show your respect? By putting on your makeup? (again huffing noises and a look of disgust),'' recalled a female passenger, recounting how she was berated by a female border officer for touching up her makeup as they pulled up to the booth.
[SIZE=+2]•[/SIZE] “When I hear the agents' plea to carry firearms in their capacity, it quite honestly frightens me to think of this agent having a weapon available to her …,” writes a woman, a daily commuter from Windsor to Detroit, whose transgression was not stating the exact number of hours she's been in the U.S.
I personally was questioned with a Canadian birth certificate in hand whether to let me in Canada or not. Also, a friend of my family was threatened by a Canadian customs officer comming from the US to Canada to get married that as a visitor, they "better not be caught doing business, or else".
The complaints, obtained by the Star through an Access to Information request, include accounts of officers cursing and yelling at Canadians and visitors, and threatening them with sniffer dogs or arrest for seemingly minor infractions - or for even having the temerity to ask a question.
There were 1,421 complaints filed with the CBSA in 2008-09, down slightly from 1,607 the previous year.
Travellers also complained of being scolded like schoolchildren, having their cars and personal belongings ripped apart and thrown helter-skelter. But it's the personal degradation that appears to bother people the most.
The complaints also included the following:
[SIZE=+2]•[/SIZE] “As a Canadian, I was appalled at the attitude, tone and disrespectful manner in which this officer performed (or did not perform) her duties. To put it bluntly, she was a bully on a power trip,” wrote a Canadian resident who returned on a bus from a three-day shopping to New York State.
[SIZE=+2]•[/SIZE] “‘You're coming into my country and that's how you show your respect? By putting on your makeup? (again huffing noises and a look of disgust),'' recalled a female passenger, recounting how she was berated by a female border officer for touching up her makeup as they pulled up to the booth.
[SIZE=+2]•[/SIZE] “When I hear the agents' plea to carry firearms in their capacity, it quite honestly frightens me to think of this agent having a weapon available to her …,” writes a woman, a daily commuter from Windsor to Detroit, whose transgression was not stating the exact number of hours she's been in the U.S.
I personally was questioned with a Canadian birth certificate in hand whether to let me in Canada or not. Also, a friend of my family was threatened by a Canadian customs officer comming from the US to Canada to get married that as a visitor, they "better not be caught doing business, or else".
