Daily BrewBorder agency’s ‘Most Wanted’ website threatened by privacy concerns, red tape
The guardians of Canada's frontiers have been tripped up again in their efforts to engage the public in their vital work.
Documents obtained by Postmedia News show Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is fighting with the federal Information and Privacy Commissioner's office over its Wanted by the CBSA website, as well as legal action by some who've been featured on the site.
The agency has been dealing recently with the fallout from its participation in a National Geographic Channel series called Border Security that documents the work of its agents. Critics have slammed it for allowing cameras to record a raid to capture illegal immigrants at a Vancouver construction site, among other things.
Postmedia News reported the CBSA now has imposed restrictions on what can be recorded, citing "negative public response." Cameras now will be limited to covering enforcement activities tied to people involved in serious criminal activity or who are on the Most Wanted list.
It was created in 2011 along the lines of the FBI's famed 10 Most Wanted program to help identify and capture people who were in Canada illegally and facing deportation.
Initially, the site featured individuals who had outstanding warrants for removal from Canada after being ruled inadmissible to the country on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Postmedia News said. But it's since expanded to include others who aren't welcome in Canada, such as those tied to organized crime or who have committed serious crimes here or abroad.
[ Related: Canadian Border Services most wanted list could soon be bigger and broader ]
The program has boasted some successes, with 40 of those featured having been located and 29 deported, according to Postmedia News.
Maybe it's been too successful. Documents obtained by Postmedia News under access-to-information legislation revealed CBSA regional staff were having trouble finding cases that fit the Most Wanted program's relatively limited guidelines.
“As a result, the number of referrals has significantly decreased since the program was launched,” said a briefing note prepared for agency president Luc Portelance earlier this year.
A bid to add a number of missing Romanians who'd entered Canada illegally in a human-smuggling scheme was rejected because they were among a group of 85 from that country who had filed refugee claim. None had yet had an admissibility hearing nor been subject to a deportation order.
“Posting information on refugee claimants contravenes privacy and immigration legislation,” according to a memo obtained by Postmedia News. “The persons designated do not meet website posting criteria.”
Other memos showed the CBSA dropped efforts to change the selection criteria for the Most Wanted we site to include people who'd escaped custody or were subject to warrants for failing to show up for their admissibility hearings.
“The focus of the program remains locating and removing individuals subject to an active Canada-wide warrant for removal and are inadmissible to Canada” on security grounds, serious criminality and suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity, CBSA spokeswoman Esme Bailey told Postmedia News via email.
A review of the program also recommended that the site "avoid labelling individuals [i.e. 'war criminals']." The CBSA wouldn't say why that advice was given, though Postmedia News noted critics have complained the Most Wanted postings of suspected war criminals undermines the presumption of innocence.
[ Related: Apologize to illegal immigrants recorded by Border Security reality program, then cancel show, lawyer says ]
Memos show the privacy commissioner's office also challenged the CBSA to explain why details of individuals remained on the site even after they'd been listed as "apprehended." The agency argued it was a way of letting the public know the program was effective but it agreed to take down the profiles after a month.
The portrayal of one alleged war criminal on the site has earned him a fresh immigration hearing, Postmedia News said. Arshad Muhammad was facing deportation to his native Pakistan but last December a Federal Court judge ruled his case should be re-examined because being featured on the Most Wanted site could subject him to mistreatment or torture when he was sent home.
