My fiancée (who is technically a tourist in Canada) and I are presently fighting her extradition on false charges (essentially for simply having been at the wrong place at the wrong time), and even her lawyer is convinced that she will eventually win, part of the reason being that the CBSA had detained her on no evidence and worse yet, official CBSA statements that have since been proven false among other reasons!
Even though the official police statement claimed to have investigated the house in which she was intercepted for human trafficking, they had collected no undercover video evidence, DNA, fingerprints, photos, witness statements (and there were witnesses!), or the name and contact number of any alibi (of which there was at least one able to corroborate her story as to why she was there: to see a friend of a friend for her birthday!)!
I'm sorry, but I have difficulty believing that the police would make no effort to collect any evidence from a house that they were investigating for human trafficking! I can only conclude that either they were extremely negligent in not collecting any evidence for such a serious crime, they are withholding evidence, or human trafficking was only a pretext to make unrelated arrests!
The police then arrested my fiancée for working in Canada as a sex worker without proper documentation yet not even so much as offered my fiancée to collect evidence at her request! The CBSA had accepted her transfer into its custody along with the police statements alone without any corroborating evidence, and based on that alone, detained her for extradition without so much as informing her of her right to retain and instruct counsel! I'd found her a lawyer.
Her lawyer had arranged for a bond hearing and it was found that the the CBSA officer's statements that my fiancée did not know my family name, that she did not know where I lived, and that she could not name a local tourist attraction were false! and so allowed me to pay bond (on condition that she sign in at the local CBSA office twice weekly).
We eventually received the official police and CBSA statements in the mail. They had confirmed (albeit not in so many words) that the police had investigated the house for human trafficking, made no effort to collect evidence, and arrested my fiancée to transfer into CBSA custody and that the CBSA had authorized her detention for extradition for working in Canada as a sex trade worker without proper documentation.
The transcript of the interrogation questions (recorded in English) revealed questions that were irrelevant to the charge against my fiancée and with so many major grammatical and spelling errors on the part of the interrogator as to make it difficult for me to understand the precise meaning of the text! As if that was not bad enough, the part I could understand had identified me as my fiancée's fiancé and my correct phone number, but no attempt on the part of the interrogator to contact me as a potential alibi (I knew at what time she had left my home and in what condition, that she was seeing a friend of a friend for her birthday, what she was planning to do after that, and at around what time she would return)! In addition to this, I myself could confirm at least three statements in the transcript that I myself knew for an absolute fact to be false!
We finally had an extradition hearing at the IRB (for which we had to travel out of town) only to find that the CBSA hearings officer (essentially the equivalent of their lawyer) had not even had the courtesy to plan for the hearing! At the hearing, she'd asked my fiancée why she did not know my family name and where I lived and why she could not name any local tourist attraction, to which my fiancée reminded her that the judge had already accepted at the bond hearing that those statements had been incorrect! She'd asked my fiancée why the police officer who had intercepted her (and who could not attend the hearing for questionning at my fiancée's lawyer's request for some reason) had written that he'd intercepted my fiancée in lingerie and no bottoms in a room with a client who was naked in a bed. My fiancée blew up in anger stating that first off, the CBSA was now contradicting its own original statement that the man (from whom the police never even attempted to collect a written or other recorded statement of his interaction with my fiancée from the time he'd entered the house to interception) was putting the clothes on; and secondly, that my fiancée herself wants to know the answer to that question and requested again that the officer be present for questionning at the next hearing precisely so as to clarify that question! The judge had to remind my fiancée to control her anger as her temper rose against the CBSA hearings officer!
The CBSA hearings officer asked my fiancée why the other women in the house all had a lot of money and expensive clothing, to which again my fiancée burst in anger asking how she was responsible for knowing what other people own. Strangely enough, I don't remember any mention of expensive clothing before this! Did the CBSA hearings officer just decide to add that to the story for effect?!
The CBSA hearings officer, presumably to try to trip my fiancée, then asked at one point why she said she had few friends in Canada but that her affidavit stated that she had many, to which the judge himself had to intervene to remind the CBSA hearings officer that the affidavit was referring to friends abroad, not Canada!
The CBSA hearings officer kept asking such irrelevant and insensitive questions for hours until by the end of it my fiancée was enraged to the point of headache and exhaustion, and later depression by the end of the day.
The CBSA hearings officer's performance was so disorganized that even the interpreter felt compelled to confide in us just how disorganized that officer's performance was.
We have at least one more hearing soon, but we are debating whether we should sue.
Any recommendations on this?
Even if we decide that it is not worth suing for financial gain, how should we ensure that this does not happen to anyone else? Through the legal system? Through political activism through Amnesty International or a similar organization, or through other means?
By the end of the latest hearing, my fiancée tearfully asked me how it was that in a country reputed for respecting human rights, that the police and CBSA appear to be able to state anything they want with no need for proof with their word being accepted as gospel, and that they can detain a person before their statements are verified to in fact be correct?!
I have no answer but am in shock at the seemingly total lack of checks and balances within the CBSA's evidence-collection and corroboration processes and the apparent lack of competence on the part of the local police and the CBSA on so many levels! If the CBSA is that disorganized and incompetent, how can anyone trust anything they say? How can the CBSA ensure the protection of the principle of the presumption of innocence and of due process and Canada's reputation as a defender of due process?
Even though the official police statement claimed to have investigated the house in which she was intercepted for human trafficking, they had collected no undercover video evidence, DNA, fingerprints, photos, witness statements (and there were witnesses!), or the name and contact number of any alibi (of which there was at least one able to corroborate her story as to why she was there: to see a friend of a friend for her birthday!)!
I'm sorry, but I have difficulty believing that the police would make no effort to collect any evidence from a house that they were investigating for human trafficking! I can only conclude that either they were extremely negligent in not collecting any evidence for such a serious crime, they are withholding evidence, or human trafficking was only a pretext to make unrelated arrests!
The police then arrested my fiancée for working in Canada as a sex worker without proper documentation yet not even so much as offered my fiancée to collect evidence at her request! The CBSA had accepted her transfer into its custody along with the police statements alone without any corroborating evidence, and based on that alone, detained her for extradition without so much as informing her of her right to retain and instruct counsel! I'd found her a lawyer.
Her lawyer had arranged for a bond hearing and it was found that the the CBSA officer's statements that my fiancée did not know my family name, that she did not know where I lived, and that she could not name a local tourist attraction were false! and so allowed me to pay bond (on condition that she sign in at the local CBSA office twice weekly).
We eventually received the official police and CBSA statements in the mail. They had confirmed (albeit not in so many words) that the police had investigated the house for human trafficking, made no effort to collect evidence, and arrested my fiancée to transfer into CBSA custody and that the CBSA had authorized her detention for extradition for working in Canada as a sex trade worker without proper documentation.
The transcript of the interrogation questions (recorded in English) revealed questions that were irrelevant to the charge against my fiancée and with so many major grammatical and spelling errors on the part of the interrogator as to make it difficult for me to understand the precise meaning of the text! As if that was not bad enough, the part I could understand had identified me as my fiancée's fiancé and my correct phone number, but no attempt on the part of the interrogator to contact me as a potential alibi (I knew at what time she had left my home and in what condition, that she was seeing a friend of a friend for her birthday, what she was planning to do after that, and at around what time she would return)! In addition to this, I myself could confirm at least three statements in the transcript that I myself knew for an absolute fact to be false!
We finally had an extradition hearing at the IRB (for which we had to travel out of town) only to find that the CBSA hearings officer (essentially the equivalent of their lawyer) had not even had the courtesy to plan for the hearing! At the hearing, she'd asked my fiancée why she did not know my family name and where I lived and why she could not name any local tourist attraction, to which my fiancée reminded her that the judge had already accepted at the bond hearing that those statements had been incorrect! She'd asked my fiancée why the police officer who had intercepted her (and who could not attend the hearing for questionning at my fiancée's lawyer's request for some reason) had written that he'd intercepted my fiancée in lingerie and no bottoms in a room with a client who was naked in a bed. My fiancée blew up in anger stating that first off, the CBSA was now contradicting its own original statement that the man (from whom the police never even attempted to collect a written or other recorded statement of his interaction with my fiancée from the time he'd entered the house to interception) was putting the clothes on; and secondly, that my fiancée herself wants to know the answer to that question and requested again that the officer be present for questionning at the next hearing precisely so as to clarify that question! The judge had to remind my fiancée to control her anger as her temper rose against the CBSA hearings officer!
The CBSA hearings officer asked my fiancée why the other women in the house all had a lot of money and expensive clothing, to which again my fiancée burst in anger asking how she was responsible for knowing what other people own. Strangely enough, I don't remember any mention of expensive clothing before this! Did the CBSA hearings officer just decide to add that to the story for effect?!
The CBSA hearings officer, presumably to try to trip my fiancée, then asked at one point why she said she had few friends in Canada but that her affidavit stated that she had many, to which the judge himself had to intervene to remind the CBSA hearings officer that the affidavit was referring to friends abroad, not Canada!
The CBSA hearings officer kept asking such irrelevant and insensitive questions for hours until by the end of it my fiancée was enraged to the point of headache and exhaustion, and later depression by the end of the day.
The CBSA hearings officer's performance was so disorganized that even the interpreter felt compelled to confide in us just how disorganized that officer's performance was.
We have at least one more hearing soon, but we are debating whether we should sue.
Any recommendations on this?
Even if we decide that it is not worth suing for financial gain, how should we ensure that this does not happen to anyone else? Through the legal system? Through political activism through Amnesty International or a similar organization, or through other means?
By the end of the latest hearing, my fiancée tearfully asked me how it was that in a country reputed for respecting human rights, that the police and CBSA appear to be able to state anything they want with no need for proof with their word being accepted as gospel, and that they can detain a person before their statements are verified to in fact be correct?!
I have no answer but am in shock at the seemingly total lack of checks and balances within the CBSA's evidence-collection and corroboration processes and the apparent lack of competence on the part of the local police and the CBSA on so many levels! If the CBSA is that disorganized and incompetent, how can anyone trust anything they say? How can the CBSA ensure the protection of the principle of the presumption of innocence and of due process and Canada's reputation as a defender of due process?