Reality show filmed immigration raids, B.C. advocates say
Immigration activists in Vancouver are protesting what they say was a series of raids on construction sites by Canadian border agents in the region yesterday, which they claim were filmed for a reality TV series.
Construction worker Gord Beck says he was working on a condo complex at Victoria Drive and 20th Avenue on Thursday when armed border agents arrived in black SUVs.
Beck says they stationed officers at corners to keep people from running, and swept the site, top to bottom looking for undocumented workers.
"I've worked with a lot of guys with ankle bracelets and stuff, but I've never seen Immigration swamp a site like that," Beck told CBC News.
Mindy Shepard, who was working across the street at the time, said she was shocked to see TV cameras recording up to a dozen arrests.
"It doesn't seem very Canadian. It's very sensationalized. I don't like it. It's just very creepy," said Shepard.
The immigrant advocacy group No One Is Illegal says there were at least three such raids in the region yesterday and some of those arrested were asked to sign release forms so they could be identified for the reality TV program.
The group held a noon-hour rally outside the federal immigration office in downtown Vancouver to protest. Organizer Harsha Walia called the raids intimidation tactics that have no place in Canada.
"The fact that watching people being detained and arrested and humiliated and interrogated becomes something that we consume as part of our nightly entertainment – there is something deeply troubling about this and very dehumanizing."
The group is calling for an end to the filming of the reality TV show featuring border agents and an end to what it calls intimidation raids at construction sites.
In response to CBC News requests, the federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews's office issued a brief statement on Thursday.
"While we cannot comment on any specific case, a key part of the CBSA's mandate is to remove those who violate Canada's immigration laws as soon as possible," said the statement.
"Everyone ordered removed from Canada is entitled to due process before the law. All removal orders are subject to various levels of appeal".
The Canada Border Services Agency has not yet responded to CBC's request for a comment, but the agency is part of a new reality show on the National Geographic channel, produced by Shaw Media in Vancouver featuring the work of border agents.
According to the show's website, Border Security: Canada’s Front Line shadows CBSA officers working at air, land, and marine crossings in BC’s Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island."
"The series features exclusive access behind the scenes at the Canada Border Services Agency, produced by Vancouver’s Force Four Entertainment for Shaw Media," says the website.
