CBSA manager told not to take notes after Meng arrest

A senior manager with the Canada Border Services Agency says she was instructed not to take notes after the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou — an arrest that will be under court scrutiny next year.

Nicole Goodman was chairwoman of passenger operations at Vancouver International Airport when Meng was arrested there following a border exam on Dec. 1, 2018.

She testified Wednesday in B.C. Supreme Court that a few weeks after the arrest, she was told not to create additional notes on the matter because they could be subject to an access-to-information request.

Goodman testified that she wanted to create a case summary or timeline of events, but did not do so on the direction of Roslyn MacVicar, who was the agency's Pacific region director general.

“I didn't notate anything after that because there were concerns about ATIP,” Goodman said.

The court is hearing witness testimony that Meng's lawyers will use to bolster an abuse-of-process claim to prevent her extradition to the U.S. Meng was screened for three hours by border officers before being informed of her arrest on Dec. 1, 2018, and her lawyers will argue her rights were violated. They also allege that both RCMP and CBSA officers kept intentionally poor notes on what happened.

Meng and Huawei face numerous charges over allegations they put international bank HSBC at risk of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, accusations that both she and the technology giant deny.

Goodman was not at the airport the day of the arrest, but said she received updates from subordinates who conducted and oversaw the border exam and received communications from U.S. officials.