In Canada, You Have No Civil Rights at the Border (CBSA, No Human Rights, No Accountability).
21 August 2019 [link youtube]
Yeah, I spent quite a lot of time talking to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). They're operating in a legislative vacuum, with absolutely no oversight or guidance other than parliament… and parliament doesn't care. The one court-precedent they work with is R. v. Simmons (1988), and the main impact of this on their practice is that they insist that you "are not being detained" (when you are) because if you were detained, you'd have rights (such as the right to remain silent)… and you don't. :-/ Someone needs to press ahead and bring this issue to Parliament (set down some "common sense" laws and guidelines for how the border works)… but it won't be me, because I'm currently living in Taiwan.
Youtube Automatic Transcription
okay so if you read the Constitution
Canada okay so under the Constitution right article six charter rights and freedoms Canadians is and has the right to join Canada right so so how could I be to for if a foreigner is coming here as a tourist understand if a coroner's come here in a work permit maybe there are issues if a Canadian citizen is returned to Canada you are telling me that it is possible for them to be too poor to be allowed to enter Canada because nobody asked me questions about that they weren't asking you about my my income that cent but I but it was on the way in degan that was a rising right okay yeah right so when my bags were searched every document including handwritten documents were read okay so we're searching for drugs when you read my private divorce documents when you read handwritten stories between me and my daughter like what's the justifications for that sorry but all of these things are wildly out of whack with both what the Constitution says in principle and in practice and with the extensive one actual recently I completely believe in more security I completely believe in searching for drugs great however searching for drugs would not justify either that line of questioning or reading hidden documents of my luggage to me that's lares great our V Simmons 1988 I completely agree I complain where they shouldn't I encourage them to I said great go ahead and search my luggage great yeah wait right okay right sure so just let me ask when I said I have the right to remain silent I said look I I you know I'm gonna decline to answer questions that are totally unrelated to the concept and I continue to answer questions about my luggage electro that's fine completely appropriate for the situation I was told no you do not have the right to remain silent right right right but up on a search yesterday right right wait but obstruction of justice only applies if you have committed a crime if I'm concealing a crime if I have not committed any crime I can't be guilty of obstruction of justice right right this paperwork was used completely maliciously in they admit it and it was used maliciously for reasons they stated the woman interrogating me openly stood angrily shouting at me from the minute I came in the room that she thought I was arrogant and she was gonna punish me for that this is open so malice in conduct was openly and proudly stated to my face so what are you sayin what'd she say um an investigation into or not even investigation will be a lower legal term here what when you say there there may be a consideration of how to improve officers conduct I mean that component in most of these things would just be a management level discussion there's no question here of a criminal charge I really do understand that my university education is in political science I don't have a reasonable expectation of these things um so when that happens with the police or even with like the manager at Starbucks you say well look something went wrong here um there is some degree of public transparency where you you know we could inform a look you know management did take a look at this and whatever even if it's a completely hall apology that you're say well look we're gonna try to do better next time we realize this wasn't optimal so you're telling me there's there's nothing possible on that front cuz I assume everything is on videotape I assume everybody's people yelling at me and interrogating me and trying to intimidate me I assume this is all entailed a right so there's no there's no overstep body and therefore so I mean to give an example let's say I wanted to employ a lawyer and actually get the footage get the surveillance footage so that I can make use of it is there a procedure for that um oh no I mean but you don't think thank you for thank you for telling me that um you know the other question I have for you which is obviously mostly for future reference do I have the legal right to record myself when I'm going through customs given that will you tell me that I understand I appreciate it is that basically I have absolutely no human rights and no recourse to any kind of legal or judicial oversight afterwards do I have the ability to say make an audio recording or video recording on my mobile phone while I'm being interrogated okay so no thank you for telling me that I think that's worth getting rid of I'll probably publish a newspaper article and that's on this experience so you do have the legal right to record yourself while going through Canadian customs that's really important now look I just want to say you know I think what's really interesting about this situation you I don't know if you will yourself see the see the footage um this and I'm not I'm really not complaining I'm not most of just describing this you know for the record or for your interest this situation started with these people really trying to intimidate me and really trying to humiliate me and it really ended with them being pretty humiliated and am I sitting there and kind of talking and philosophically but the fact I asked them I said look you know civil rights don't just exist for nice people for people you sympathize with like I understand whatever reason when I came through customs and I was extremely sleep deprived you know I just had come back from France jet lag and what have you you know for whatever reason you just didn't like me but that's why we have civil rights civil rights aren't to protect people you like they're to protect people whom authority figures dislike or have an animus towards that maybe irrational or maybe what have you and we really talk this stuff through and they were I just say they were really embarrassed and on the ropes about it but I think they have no education in the concept of civil rights and the concept of human rights as it applies to Border Services all right all right so the initial interview I was simply asked do you have family in France and I said yes ma'am I do that was the only question I was given at what they call primer you know the first stage of and then they said okay we're gonna search back and I said great because I completely believe it's like in principle everyone has their bag searched repeatedly when crossing a porter you know going through security at birth stages I have no objection of my bed search and I I'm not guilty of any crime but I've done nothing wrong but to tell someone you do not have the right to remain silent and if you choose to remain silent you will be charged with obstruction of justice that's some remarkable thing to tell someone especially when the questioning is way outside of the purview of what border service was to be questioned Canadian citizens but in in theory we live in a democratic country in theory I can they all talk to Parliament and I mean this really seems to be a kind of legislative vacuum where Canadian Parliament needs to pass some kind of resolution so that you know okay again a Canadian says return to Canada something else I said to them because they were really interrogating me they were really insulting me for no reason I said to them you know I've been interrogated by customs all over the world including communist countries communist China communist laws no one has ever treated me as badly as Canadian customs in my own country the Americans have never treated me this badly not the Chinese nobody I'm treated worse in my own country but Canadian border services wonders there's nothing to establish here this like you're not trying to in Terry it's not a job interview you're not really trying to test the value of my character beyond establishing whether I don't want to search my bags and once you search my bags there's not a lot more to know why am i insulted and denigrated treated in a subhuman way in my own country I'm never treated this way in China Thailand Cambodia Europe anywhere else in the world look this has been a great conversation but as you know we can defer to the tape it's a long tape and I've given you my written complaint I'm you know I'm satisfied thank you for taking the time to talk with me I mean I understand this is this is probably not the most pleasant part of your job but you know thank you for taking time to talk to me and thank you also for confirming that as Canadian citizen you do have the right to record yourself when you're going through customs that's great thank you [Music]
Canada okay so under the Constitution right article six charter rights and freedoms Canadians is and has the right to join Canada right so so how could I be to for if a foreigner is coming here as a tourist understand if a coroner's come here in a work permit maybe there are issues if a Canadian citizen is returned to Canada you are telling me that it is possible for them to be too poor to be allowed to enter Canada because nobody asked me questions about that they weren't asking you about my my income that cent but I but it was on the way in degan that was a rising right okay yeah right so when my bags were searched every document including handwritten documents were read okay so we're searching for drugs when you read my private divorce documents when you read handwritten stories between me and my daughter like what's the justifications for that sorry but all of these things are wildly out of whack with both what the Constitution says in principle and in practice and with the extensive one actual recently I completely believe in more security I completely believe in searching for drugs great however searching for drugs would not justify either that line of questioning or reading hidden documents of my luggage to me that's lares great our V Simmons 1988 I completely agree I complain where they shouldn't I encourage them to I said great go ahead and search my luggage great yeah wait right okay right sure so just let me ask when I said I have the right to remain silent I said look I I you know I'm gonna decline to answer questions that are totally unrelated to the concept and I continue to answer questions about my luggage electro that's fine completely appropriate for the situation I was told no you do not have the right to remain silent right right right but up on a search yesterday right right wait but obstruction of justice only applies if you have committed a crime if I'm concealing a crime if I have not committed any crime I can't be guilty of obstruction of justice right right this paperwork was used completely maliciously in they admit it and it was used maliciously for reasons they stated the woman interrogating me openly stood angrily shouting at me from the minute I came in the room that she thought I was arrogant and she was gonna punish me for that this is open so malice in conduct was openly and proudly stated to my face so what are you sayin what'd she say um an investigation into or not even investigation will be a lower legal term here what when you say there there may be a consideration of how to improve officers conduct I mean that component in most of these things would just be a management level discussion there's no question here of a criminal charge I really do understand that my university education is in political science I don't have a reasonable expectation of these things um so when that happens with the police or even with like the manager at Starbucks you say well look something went wrong here um there is some degree of public transparency where you you know we could inform a look you know management did take a look at this and whatever even if it's a completely hall apology that you're say well look we're gonna try to do better next time we realize this wasn't optimal so you're telling me there's there's nothing possible on that front cuz I assume everything is on videotape I assume everybody's people yelling at me and interrogating me and trying to intimidate me I assume this is all entailed a right so there's no there's no overstep body and therefore so I mean to give an example let's say I wanted to employ a lawyer and actually get the footage get the surveillance footage so that I can make use of it is there a procedure for that um oh no I mean but you don't think thank you for thank you for telling me that um you know the other question I have for you which is obviously mostly for future reference do I have the legal right to record myself when I'm going through customs given that will you tell me that I understand I appreciate it is that basically I have absolutely no human rights and no recourse to any kind of legal or judicial oversight afterwards do I have the ability to say make an audio recording or video recording on my mobile phone while I'm being interrogated okay so no thank you for telling me that I think that's worth getting rid of I'll probably publish a newspaper article and that's on this experience so you do have the legal right to record yourself while going through Canadian customs that's really important now look I just want to say you know I think what's really interesting about this situation you I don't know if you will yourself see the see the footage um this and I'm not I'm really not complaining I'm not most of just describing this you know for the record or for your interest this situation started with these people really trying to intimidate me and really trying to humiliate me and it really ended with them being pretty humiliated and am I sitting there and kind of talking and philosophically but the fact I asked them I said look you know civil rights don't just exist for nice people for people you sympathize with like I understand whatever reason when I came through customs and I was extremely sleep deprived you know I just had come back from France jet lag and what have you you know for whatever reason you just didn't like me but that's why we have civil rights civil rights aren't to protect people you like they're to protect people whom authority figures dislike or have an animus towards that maybe irrational or maybe what have you and we really talk this stuff through and they were I just say they were really embarrassed and on the ropes about it but I think they have no education in the concept of civil rights and the concept of human rights as it applies to Border Services all right all right so the initial interview I was simply asked do you have family in France and I said yes ma'am I do that was the only question I was given at what they call primer you know the first stage of and then they said okay we're gonna search back and I said great because I completely believe it's like in principle everyone has their bag searched repeatedly when crossing a porter you know going through security at birth stages I have no objection of my bed search and I I'm not guilty of any crime but I've done nothing wrong but to tell someone you do not have the right to remain silent and if you choose to remain silent you will be charged with obstruction of justice that's some remarkable thing to tell someone especially when the questioning is way outside of the purview of what border service was to be questioned Canadian citizens but in in theory we live in a democratic country in theory I can they all talk to Parliament and I mean this really seems to be a kind of legislative vacuum where Canadian Parliament needs to pass some kind of resolution so that you know okay again a Canadian says return to Canada something else I said to them because they were really interrogating me they were really insulting me for no reason I said to them you know I've been interrogated by customs all over the world including communist countries communist China communist laws no one has ever treated me as badly as Canadian customs in my own country the Americans have never treated me this badly not the Chinese nobody I'm treated worse in my own country but Canadian border services wonders there's nothing to establish here this like you're not trying to in Terry it's not a job interview you're not really trying to test the value of my character beyond establishing whether I don't want to search my bags and once you search my bags there's not a lot more to know why am i insulted and denigrated treated in a subhuman way in my own country I'm never treated this way in China Thailand Cambodia Europe anywhere else in the world look this has been a great conversation but as you know we can defer to the tape it's a long tape and I've given you my written complaint I'm you know I'm satisfied thank you for taking the time to talk with me I mean I understand this is this is probably not the most pleasant part of your job but you know thank you for taking time to talk to me and thank you also for confirming that as Canadian citizen you do have the right to record yourself when you're going through customs that's great thank you [Music]