TORONTO —
Dozens of Canadians and Americans of Iranian descent say they were held and interrogated at a U.S. border crossing in B.C. over the weekend as tensions between Iran and the U.S. heat up.
According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), more than 60 Iranian nationals and American citizens were held at the Peace Arch border linking B.C. to Washington state after attending an Iranian pop concert in Vancouver.
Among those reportedly held for questioning included Iranian-Canadians.
Sam Sadr, an Iranian-Canadian who travelled to the U.S. using his Canadian passport, says he was held at the border for eight hours, during which time he saw dozens of other Iranians held, including children.
“This is the first time I put my feet in the U.S. I told the border person this is very [shocking] and called discrimination,” Sadr told CTV News Channel Monday.
Len Saunders, a Blaine, Wash.-based immigration lawyer, witnessed what he described as “chaos” at the border crossing first-hand. Speaking to CTVNews.ca by phone from Washington state, Saunders said there were so many people waiting to speak to officials, they were given foodbecause of the delays. He says two of his clients were held by border agents.
“One recently became an American citizen and they were taken into secondary and questioned for four to five hours with regards to their family ties to Iran; parents’ information; siblings’ information; what they do for work; and when they travelled there,” Saunders said during an interview on CTV News Channel Monday.
“It was basically a dragnet of anyone who was born in Iran coming through the local port of entry over the weekend.”
What concerns Saunders most is his client’s claims that when she volunteered to withdraw her application for entry, she was told she was not allowed to leave.
“It’s troubling,” he said by phone. “Usually you’d think if you knock on the door of someone’s house you can leave whenever you want, but they weren’t letting them leave.”
CAIR claims that those detained had their passports confiscated and were questioned about their political views and allegiances.
The organization also claims to have information from a source at U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) that said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had issued a national order to report and detain anyone with Iranian ties.
On Sunday, CBP denied that it had ordered the detention of Iranian nationals.
“Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false. Reports that DHS/CBP has issued a related directive are also false,” the agency said in a tweet.
But Robert McCaw, Director of Government Affairs at CAIR, says those words may be a smokescreen.
“While they say no one was detained, people were held for up to 10 to 12 hours in secondary screening and, again, interrogated,” McCaw told CTV News Channel.
“If you’re held for more than 10 to 12 hours and interrogated by federal law enforcement, I would call that detention.”
Saunders says the detentions were particularly problematic for U.S. citizens.
“As an American citizen, you have the right to enter the country and not be interrogated for many hours,” he said.
“This is something I’ve never seen. I’ve been practising in northern Washington state for over 20 years; I’ve never seen one country’s individuals taken in and questioned for such lengthy periods of time.”
He notes that Iranian-Canadians would have no legal recourse if they were to be detained at the border.
“You have no right to enter the U.S. [without a U.S. passport],” he told CTVNews.ca.
He notes that anyone attempting to cross into a foreign country has the right to withdraw their application for entry and return to their home country at any time during the immigration process.
However, he worries that U.S. immigration officials may have been given different orders.
Saunders notes that he did not hear of issues atany other Canadian-American land border crossings over the weekend.
“It seems to be a local phenomenon which makes it even worse,” he said.
Michael Friel, a spokesman for CBP, told the Associated Press that border wait times increased Saturday at the Washington border crossing because of “increased traffic and reduced staffing” over the holiday season.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
