CAVEAT News Release - March 13, 1997.

"THE PROTECTION OF SOCIETY MUST BE THE FIRST PRIORITY OF BORDER PROTECTION SERVICES"

~ SafetyNet Conference 1994

In August 1991 Jonathan Yeo, a crazed sexual predator, with an eleven year history of violence against women, armed with a firearm, attempting to breach bail for sexual assault, tried to cross the border in to the U.S. at the Whirlpool Bridge at Niagara Falls.

Neither Customs Canada nor Immigration Canada had the power to detain him or seize his weapon. Ninety minutes later Nina de Villiers disappeared while jogging. Her body was found ten days later in a marsh near Napanee, Ontario. She had been executed. Karen Marquis was assaulted and executed in her home in New Brunswick four days later. Their killer, Jonathan Yeo, shot himself in a police chase in Hamilton, Ontario.

Jury recommendation #107 from the Yeo Inquest of April 13, 1992 states, "There must be armed personnel at all border crossings for the protection of the public and safety of our country. We recommend a permanent police service or customs officers who are proficient in arms.

In 1994 CAVEAT hosted a multi-disciplinary, national conference, SafetyNet, in which recommendations were made to all levels of government. The Border Security Committee of SafetyNet made sixteen recommendations, one of which says, "Border protection officers be granted full peace officer status and that they be fully trained and fully armed where possible."

Based on these recommendations and in consultation on customs officers' powers review, CAVEAT and CEUDA (Customs Excise Union Douanes Accise) proposed the creation of a new government organization responsible for border control.

Roger Tassé was formerly Deputy Minister for the federal Department of Justice; he was hired during 1994 by Revenue Canada to study and report on the Powers of Customs Inspectors. His comments on the CAVEAT/CEUDA proposal follow:

  • the agency would be created under the auspices of the Solicitor General of Canada.*
  • the primary role would be to prevent the entry of prohibited goods and undesirable persons into Canada.
  • border patrol officers would have all of the powers currently attributed to Customs officers in the Customs Act as well as full peace officer status for the purpose of Criminal Code enforcement.
  • the extent of the border patrol role with respect to the enforcement of the Criminal Code would vary according to the circumstances of each area.
  • working agreements would be negotiated with police forces to establish the responsibilities of each agency for Criminal Code enforcement;
  • for example, Customs officers' role could be limited to holding a suspect pending the arrival of police; alternatively it could extend further to other activities such as questioning, arraignment and prosecution.

    *Note: The agency could also fall under the Revenue Minister

Advantages:

  • one agency would be exclusively responsible for enforcement of the law at the border;
  • officers would be empowered to deal with all of the situations encountered at the border -- there would be no need to rely on the assistance of another agency.

Disadvantages:

  • an agency that is primarily focused on law enforcement (whether under the direction of the Solicitor General or the Minister of National Revenue) would not address the revenue collection and trade administration mandates of the customs program -- a parallel workforce from Revenue Canada would have to be assigned to the border to perform these functions;
  • the creation of a police agency would duplicate and interfere with the responsibilities of established police forces;
  • there could be a danger that border patrol officers would take on a proactive approach to criminal law enforcement rather than a reactive one;
  • MOU's with municipal and provincial police forces and individual detachments of the RCMP would be difficult to achieve because of the complexity and range of issues to be dealt with in order to avoid duplication and overlap in police and investigative work;
  • differing arrangements from port to port would be difficult to manage and would result in confusion for both border patrol and police officers;
  • realignment of responsibilities between Departments for the purpose of creating a new agency would be complicated and difficult.

Conclusion:

  • There are several drawbacks to this option. While the establishment of a border patrol would bridge the current enforcement gap, it was not considered to be the most operationally efficient or cost effective solution. The confusion and other practical problems that would inevitably evolve from a move in this direction would result in an even more undesirable situation than currently exists today.
  • A limited extension to Customs officers' powers as described in option 4 above would accomplish the same law enforcement results without the operational complications and resource implications associated with the creation of an independent border patrol agency.

March 13, 1997

CAVEAT is pleased to participate in the announcement made by The Honourable Jane Stewart, Revenue Canada Minister on new legislation designed to increase the powers of Customs Inspectors.

Six years ago, sexual predator, Jonathan Yeo, was not able to be detained at the U.S. border. Three people died. Today he could be held. One more link in the protection of Canadian society has been forged.

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