Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Canada - 'This Is By No Means Isolated,' Editor Says Of Woman Detained Upon Return From Jamaica
A 42 year-old Ottawa woman returned home from her grandmother's funeral to be handcuffed, strip-searched and accused of drug-smuggling by Canadian customs agents at the Ottawa airport Tuesday night.
Charmaine Archer, a nurse's assistant at a local long-term care facility, was on a flight from Philadelphia, the last leg of her trip home from Jamaica. She and her four-year-old son were pulled aside for inspection by border services agents at the airport as they left the plane around 11 p.m.
Agents told Archer, a Canadian citizen, that she was flagged because she paid for part of her ticket with a credit card, because she booked at the last minute, and because she only stayed for four days.
Agents took what she described as gauze swabs and ran them over her wallet, the lining of her suitcase and her toothbrush -- a process that took over an hour, she said.
Her toothbrush, agents said, tested positive for ****** and THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
"I said, 'You're a liar.' I don't do drugs, I don't know anybody that does drugs and I wasn't around drugs when I was in Jamaica ... I come from an upstanding family and nobody touched that toothbrush but me."
Agents told her she would have to submit to a strip search. "I said to her, 'No way that's going to happen!' "
Archer was threatened with arrest and was told her child would be sent to Children's Aid, she said. Her boy was eventually allowed to join his father, who was waiting to pick him and Archer up in the airport. Archer was handcuffed and eventually agreed to be searched.
"I got undressed. There were three women in the room -- quite humiliating, quite degrading. I'm a big person, very conscious of my body ... you can imagine how I felt." When it was over "they asked if I wanted to take a minute to sit down," since she was shaking and crying.
They offered to help repack her bag and two male officers put her bags on a trolley to bring them down to her waiting husband. It was 2 a.m., and they had found no drugs.
"They never apologized, never said anything," she said.
"This is by no means isolated," said Ewart Walters, editor of the Spectrum, a monthly newspaper aimed at Ottawa's black community.
"There have been enough incidents over the years of people being picked on."
He pointed to Leon Stewart, who was held for three hours at the airport in March 2000. He was strip-searched, but Stewart was asked to produce a bowel movement to satisfy customs agents.
"There is an overwhelming number of black people coming from Jamaica who get stopped and asked questions," Walters said.
Kerwin Dougan, Archer's travel agent with Voyages G Travel in Gatineau, agreed the destination may play a role in determining which people are detained for searches, including Jamaica in a list of countries he says has a reputation for drugs.
Archer has retained legal counsel. "I want to know what my rights were," she said.
Nobody at the Canadian Border Services Agency could be reached for comment.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact: Ottawa Citizen
Website: Ottawa Citizen
Author: Tony Spears
A 42 year-old Ottawa woman returned home from her grandmother's funeral to be handcuffed, strip-searched and accused of drug-smuggling by Canadian customs agents at the Ottawa airport Tuesday night.
Charmaine Archer, a nurse's assistant at a local long-term care facility, was on a flight from Philadelphia, the last leg of her trip home from Jamaica. She and her four-year-old son were pulled aside for inspection by border services agents at the airport as they left the plane around 11 p.m.
Agents told Archer, a Canadian citizen, that she was flagged because she paid for part of her ticket with a credit card, because she booked at the last minute, and because she only stayed for four days.
Agents took what she described as gauze swabs and ran them over her wallet, the lining of her suitcase and her toothbrush -- a process that took over an hour, she said.
Her toothbrush, agents said, tested positive for ****** and THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
"I said, 'You're a liar.' I don't do drugs, I don't know anybody that does drugs and I wasn't around drugs when I was in Jamaica ... I come from an upstanding family and nobody touched that toothbrush but me."
Agents told her she would have to submit to a strip search. "I said to her, 'No way that's going to happen!' "
Archer was threatened with arrest and was told her child would be sent to Children's Aid, she said. Her boy was eventually allowed to join his father, who was waiting to pick him and Archer up in the airport. Archer was handcuffed and eventually agreed to be searched.
"I got undressed. There were three women in the room -- quite humiliating, quite degrading. I'm a big person, very conscious of my body ... you can imagine how I felt." When it was over "they asked if I wanted to take a minute to sit down," since she was shaking and crying.
They offered to help repack her bag and two male officers put her bags on a trolley to bring them down to her waiting husband. It was 2 a.m., and they had found no drugs.
"They never apologized, never said anything," she said.
"This is by no means isolated," said Ewart Walters, editor of the Spectrum, a monthly newspaper aimed at Ottawa's black community.
"There have been enough incidents over the years of people being picked on."
He pointed to Leon Stewart, who was held for three hours at the airport in March 2000. He was strip-searched, but Stewart was asked to produce a bowel movement to satisfy customs agents.
"There is an overwhelming number of black people coming from Jamaica who get stopped and asked questions," Walters said.
Kerwin Dougan, Archer's travel agent with Voyages G Travel in Gatineau, agreed the destination may play a role in determining which people are detained for searches, including Jamaica in a list of countries he says has a reputation for drugs.
Archer has retained legal counsel. "I want to know what my rights were," she said.
Nobody at the Canadian Border Services Agency could be reached for comment.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact: Ottawa Citizen
Website: Ottawa Citizen
Author: Tony Spears
