 | Thursday, June 09, 2022 – by John McHutchion | | Here’s what you need to know to get the day started: | | | CBSA officers caught giving preferential treatment, associating with criminals, documents reveal | | | Canadian border officers have been reprimanded for hundreds of acts of misconduct over the past two years — including preferential treatment and criminal association — according to documents obtained by CBC News.
Details of the cases — all of which were deemed founded — were released under access to information law and cover the period Jan. 1, 2020 to Jan. 1, 2022.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said that, during the last fiscal year, it concluded 92 founded investigations. Of those, 12 saw border officers verbally reprimanded, 42 led to written reprimands and 38 ended in suspensions.
That figure is substantially lower than the number for 2020 — the first year to see a reduction in travel due to the pandemic. In 2020, the CBSA reported 215 founded cases resulting in nine dismissals, 82 suspensions, 52 written reprimands and 27 verbal reprimands. (The figures don't say what happened in the remaining cases.)
A CBSA spokesperson said the agency considers a complaint "founded" if "aspects" of it are found to be "valid."
While details of these cases — including names and locations — are redacted in the documents released to CBC News, they describe some troubling behaviour at land and air crossings.
In one case, an officer was found to have failed to properly process travellers and vehicle plates — a key component of the job — for three years.
In another, an officer accessed the CBSA's computer system to remove flags from someone's file. Flags are indicators related to an individual's criminal or travel history that are meant to warn CBSA officers that a particular traveller warrants a closer look.
One founded investigation report said only that the officer in question posed "a security risk" and could "harm the agency's reputation."
The documents also describe multiple founded cases of criminal association — including one involving an officer who "provided [a] false name when stopped by police while having dinner with [a] cocaine smuggler" and another involving an officer with ties to the Hell's Angels. | | | | | Eye to eye | | |  | (Martin Meissner/The Associated Press) | | | | Falconer Laura looks into the eyes of Hugo, a Eurasian eagle-owl, at a hunting fair in Dortmund, Germany, on Wednesday. | | | | | | | | | In brief | | | A frightening moment of uncertainty was transformed into a story of heroism last weekend after four Good Samaritans chased after a stolen truck with a five-month-old baby inside near Strathmore, Alta., helping to reunite the infant with its family. At around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, police said a truck parked near the Travelodge hotel in Strathmore, a town approximately 50 kilometres east of Calgary, was stolen with an infant inside. The occupants of the vehicle, who had stopped to take a break from driving, were standing beside the truck when an unknown man wearing a reflective vest jumped into the driver's seat and sped away, police said. Tess Little Chief was in the parking lot next to the Travelodge with her husband, Kyle Royal, and two friends, Lincoln Rodh and Rylee Waterchief. They had just pulled into the lot when a man approached, frantically banging on their window. Royal opened the door and the man yelled: "Someone stole my truck, it's right there driving away," she told CBC News. He told them a baby was in the truck. Little Chief said as soon as she heard a baby was inside, she began to pursue the truck, the two vehicles speeding through Strathmore. The chase ended about 40 minutes later outside Strathmore, with the baby safe. Police praised Little Chief and her friends, saying they provided crucial information on the truck's whereabouts. Read the full story here.
Ontario will lift most remaining mask mandates on Saturday, including in hospitals and on public transit. The mandates are set to expire at 12 a.m. on June 11, but masking will remain mandatory in long-term care and retirement homes, the province's chief medical officer of health said in a news release on Wednesday. Dr. Kieran Moore said Ontario's COVID-19 situation, with the help of high vaccination rates, continues to improve. Masks are still recommended in higher-risk congregate living settings, such as shelters and group homes, he said. "While masking requirements are expiring, organizations may implement their own policies," Moore said in the release. "Ontarians should continue to wear a mask if they feel it is right for them, are at high risk for severe illness, recovering from COVID-19, have symptoms of the virus or are a close contact of someone with COVID-19." Moore said the province will also revoke directives for health-care workers and organizations and replace them with guidance on Saturday. Read more on this story here.
An award-winning Cree-Métis professor who grew up in northern Saskatchewan will not be moving to his home province's university because administrators demanded certain paperwork to prove he's Indigenous. "I wanted to come to the University of Saskatchewan. This is all pretty disappointing," Real Carriere said. Critics say Carriere's ordeal is an example of misguided overreaction by University of Saskatchewan administrators to an earlier case of an Indigenous identity controversy involving former professor Carrie Bourassa. Indigenous studies faculty say they're angry about the Carriere situation, but also fear existing staff might soon face these new "colonial" requirements. "There's a strong stink to all of this. This is a step backwards. I think it's a mistake," said acting Indigenous studies department head Jim Waldram. No one from the university's administration was available Wednesday, but last month, the USask announced it would have an Indigenous verification policy in place by fall. Read more on this story here.
Justin Bieber learned the hard way that the power of an exclusive brand is not to be underestimated. According to reports, the pop superstar has been banned from purchasing future exclusive models and special editions of Ferraris because he painted his version of the car neon blue. Making changes to the vehicle goes against the company's code of conduct. Instead, Bieber will only have the right to purchase run-of-the-mill series production models of the luxury car. And while it may mean he won't be buying any more limited editions of the fancy car, Darian Kovacs says this is actually a brilliant marketing strategy. "The amount of earned media and free publicity Ferrari got for that, you know, it's one, maybe two less cars they're selling to the Biebs," said Kovacs, who runs the Jelly Digital Marketing firm in Fort Langley, B.C. "But in turn, the existing members are standing a little taller today because they're quite proud of what they belong to." It's a tactic known as velvet rope marketing, named after the kind of club that has a bouncer outside deciding who can go in, and making others line up behind a red velvet rope. Read more on this story here.
A former Canadian figure skating champion who went the 1972 Olympics as a 15-year-old is among several skating icons who are welcoming new international rules that will gradually raise the age of competition from 15 currently to 17. The new rules will be in place by the time of the next Winter Olympics in 2026. The International Skating Union says the restriction is aimed at "protecting the physical and mental health, and emotional well-being of the skaters." Sandra Bezic went the the 1972 Games in Sapporo, Japan, at 15. But by 17, she retired from skating. She was struggling with an injury, burnout and pressure from those around her. "I hit a wall. There was no support system in place at the time. It was just, you know, sort of all my fault I failed," said Bezic, who is now a skating coach. Kaetlyn Osmond, who retired at 23 as Canada's most decorated female singles figure skater with three Olympic medals, told CBC Sports she supports raising the age for competing. "I think raising the age of 17 will just help the longevity of the sport, help a body fully mature before the demands and the pressure of the sport." Read more here.
Now for some good news to start your Thursday: When Lucas McAneney's wife bought him a stroller for his infant son, Sutton, he was hoping it would help his little one fall asleep. Two years later, McAneney was crossing the finish line of the Buffalo Marathon before anyone else — while pushing a sleepy Sutton in that stroller. "It's the year a two-year-old won the marathon, sleeping," joked the 35-year-old who lives in Hamilton, Ont. McAneney said Sutton would point out all the police cars and ambulances they passed during the run. "He's never spoken more during a run than he did at the Buffalo Marathon and I've never talked more in a marathon … it was two and a half hours of fun," he said. McAneney ran the marathon in two hours, 33 minutes and 32 seconds. He finished the race, with Sutton — by then nodding off — 16 seconds ahead of the next runner. Read more about the father-and-son marathon win. | | | OPINION | Alberta NDP's best summer ever looms as Jason Kenney fades away | | | Alberta Premier Jason Kenney's political demise leaves a big opening for NDP Leader Rachel Notley, but a leaderless United Conservative Party creates big unknowns for the NDP's strategic calculus, writes Leah Ward. Read the column here. | | | | | Your weekly guide to what you need to know about federal politics and the minority Liberal government. Get the latest news and sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning. Click here to subscribe to the newsletter. | | |  | The reality of intimate-partner violence in rural Canada | On Sept. 22, 2015, in Ontario's Renfrew County, Nathalie Warmerdam, Anastasia Kuzik and Carol Culleton were all killed by the same man — Basil Borutski. All three women knew Borutski or were intimately involved with him for a period. Their murders became one of the worst cases of intimate-partner violence in Canada's history.
Even though Borutski sits behind bars — with likely no chance of getting out — a coroner's inquest into the murders is finally taking place. A panel of experts, community members and advocates is examining what went wrong and trying to come up with ways to keep it from happening again.
Renfrew County is a microcosm of a problem often faced by women experiencing intimate partner violence in rural communities. CBC News found one in four cases of intimate partner homicide was in a rural, remote or northern area of the country.
Today on Front Burner, we talk to CBC Ottawa reporter Guy Quinneville from inside the hearings and Pam Cross, a lawyer and key witness in the inquest, about the bigger problem of domestic violence in rural communities.
Listen to today's episode | | | Today in history: June 9 | | | 1846: A fire ravages St. John's, destroying 2,000 buildings and leaving nearly 12,000 people homeless.
1881: Sea captain Angus Walters, skipper of the famed schooner Bluenose, is born in Lunenburg, N.S.
1968: The first national televised debate of Canadian political leaders is held. It featured Pierre Trudeau, Robert Stanfield, Tommy Douglas and Real Caouette.
1986: A U.S. presidential commission finds the failure of O-rings in a rocket joint was the single physical cause of the Challenger shuttle disaster. | | | (With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters) | | | | |  | CBC NEWS APP | The most convenient way to get your news
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