RCMP test for border crossers suspended
Interview guide for claimants in Quebec had ‘inappropriate’ questions, ministry says
RCMP officers have been screening Muslim refugee claimants entering from the U.S. at Quebec’s Roxham Rd. crossing, asking how they feel about women who do not wear the hijab, how many times they pray, and their opinion about the Taliban and the Islamic State, a questionnaire obtained by the Star shows.
The 41 questions appear to specifically target Muslims, as no other religious practices are mentioned, nor terrorist groups with non-Muslim members.
Refugee lawyers representing the more than 12,000 men, women and children who have crossed from New York this year at the informal crossing on Roxham Rd., near the Quebec town of Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, have heard stories of profiling, but it wasn’t until a client of Toronto lawyer Clifford McCarten was given his own questionnaire last month — seemingly by mistake — that there was proof of the practice.
RCMP spokesperson Annie Delisle told the Star Wednesday that these questions were part of an “interview guide” that was used by officers in Quebec.
“Due to the high volume of irregular migrants in Quebec, an interview guide was developed as an operation tool to streamline processing and provide consistency in the RCMP’s preliminary risk assessments,” Delisle wrote in an email to the Star.
Scott Bardsley, spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, told the Star Wednesday afternoon that the RCMP has suspended use of “that version” of the guide.
“The minute we became aware of the interview guide, we were immediately concerned and contacted the RCMP,” Bardsley wrote. “Some of the questions were inappropriate and inconsistent with government policy.”
Answers from the questionnaire were entered into RCMP databases, Delisle wrote. That information could then be shared with the Canada Border Services Agency or other security partners “in accordance with Canadian legislation,” she wrote.
Civil rights advocates, refugee lawyers and Muslim leaders said the document highlights the larger problem that Canada’s security services disproportionately target Muslims.
“Getting rid of the evidence doesn’t get rid of the problem,” said Faisal Bhabha, the legal adviser for the National Council of Canadian Muslims. “The document itself isn’t the problem. The problem is the mindset. It’s not an anomaly.”
The refugee claimant represented by McCarten, who is fleeing a Muslim-majority country, said he was shocked by the questions and feared how information he gave — such as the fact that his wife wears a hijab — could be used against him.
The Star has agreed to protect his identity.
Question 31 on the form, typed on RCMP letterhead in both English and French, reads: “Canada is a very liberal country that believes in freedom of religious practice and equality between men and women. What is your opinion on this subject? How would you feel if your boss was a woman?”
“I never expected this in Canada,” said the middle-aged teacher, whose family still lives in his birth country. “My country has a lot of problems about human rights and democracy but these questions are not the kind of questions I’d be asked even in my country.”
Mitchell Goldberg, head of the national association of refugee lawyers, noted the similarity between the RCMP’s questionnaire and the widely lampooned campaign pledge by Conservative MP and former leadership candidate Kellie Leitch to screen immigrants for “Canadian values.”
“The job of the RCMP is to protect national security, not to issue a value test and that’s all I can call this,” Goldberg said.
The Roxham Rd. crossing has taken on mythological significance among refugees seeking a path to freedom, as has Canada as a hospitable haven. In response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s January travel ban on several Muslim countries, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted, “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength. #WelcomeToCanada.”
The “Safe Third Country Agreement” between Canada and the U.S. stipulates that those seeking asylum must apply in their country of arrival. But there is a loophole if refugee claimants enter at an unofficial border crossing — such as Roxham Rd.
This summer saw a massive influx of mainly Haitian claimants, fearful of what would happen to them in the U.S. when their special immigration designation, known as a Temporary Protected Status, expired. The Trump administration told Haitian citizens living and working in the U.S. to prepare to return home as their status would only be extended until November.
Canadian officials are bracing for a second wave of asylum seekers from Central America, who worry they also will be expelled from the U.S. if their status is not renewed.
Other claimants from Muslim-majority countries feel they would have a better chance finding refuge in Canada than the U.S. under Trump.
McCarten said late Wednesday that while he was thankful for the quick reaction from Goodale’s office, more answers are needed.
“I’m heartened to hear from the leadership that they take this as seriously as we do,” he said. “But what possible purpose could someone’s opinion about female employment or religious head coverings have to bear on an assessment of risk?”
“If someone’s religious opinion is sufficient to place them in an RCMP database for potential future monitoring, we need to be concerned about that.
“If they recognize those questions are inappropriate, then they need to destroy all the information that was gathered.”
McCarten also said he found it hard to fathom that federal officials from Public Safety or the Prime Minister’s Office were unaware of the screening process being used at Roxham Rd., when Canada’s influx of asylum seekers has been such an important and politically fraught story.
“I find that incredibly hard to believe that the site of incredibly vexed immigration and refugee policy in Canada, the site of probably the biggest clash of values between Canada and the U.S. right now, and the site of the largest irregular border issue in the country, is being managed exclusively by a local detachment without any federal oversight or higher level approach?”
“If there isn’t, then there’s a huge problem.”