As she sat in an otherwise empty interrogation room face-to-face with a U.S. border agent, Shirin Fahimi found herself in a scenario she’d only ever seen in the movies.
A long table separated her from the officer. On the ceiling were four monitors. Her heart was beating fast.
“Are you Muslim?” Fahimi recalled the agent asking her.
“That was a shocking question for me,” she told CBC News. “I don’t know if any other Canadian at the border is being asked this question of what do you believe.”
Fahimi, a 31-year-old Toronto-area artist, was born in Iran. Over the years, she said she’s faced extra questioning in exchange for the freedom to travel the United States.
But on Feb. 4, shortly after she checked in at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, Fahimi was led to a room where she said she was peppered one-on-one with questions she never imagined she would face as a Canadian citizen.
What was her position on the Iranian government, why did she move to Canada and why was her husband’s name so long were some of the questions.
On Feb. 4, shortly after she checked in at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, Shirin Fahimi was led to a room where she says she was peppered with questions she never imagined she would face as a Canadian citizen. (Zinnia Naqvi)
‘Who is Canadian now?’
The interrogation lasted about 45 minutes and ended with Fahimi in tears. Not only was she denied travel to San Francisco for a scheduled performance, she was also left questioning if the Canadian citizenship she’d waited so long for was somehow worth less because of where she was born.
“Who is Canadian now?” Fahimi said. “You question your belonging.”
Fahimi isn’t alone. CBC News has interviewed five other Iranian-born Canadian citizens who were denied entry even after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) admitted that officers at its Seattle field office were wrongly detaining Iranian-born travellers amid escalating U.S.-Iran tensions following the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3.
Two of those people said they had served in the Iranian military before moving to Canada — which is mandatory in Iran.
The cases have some wondering if the refusals are part of a broader strategy targeting Iranian-born travellers.
During the Jan. 4 weekend, up to 200 travellers of Iranian descent travelling from British Columbia were reportedly detained and questioned for several hours at the Peace Arch border crossing in Washington state.
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 denied any such directive came from the top, with CBP acting commissioner Mark Morgan telling reporters the actions were “not in line with our direction and so that was immediately corrected. And it was very unique to that one sector.”
The targeting was said to have ended after Jan. 5, as stories of Iranian-born travellers who had been stopped at the border began coming to light, according to a U.S. border officer, whose identity CBC News withheld over concerns of repercussions from his employer.
For Saman Zamanzadeh, the only recourse he sees is for the Canadian government to step in and make sure its citizens aren’t being discriminated against. (Submitted by Saman Zamanzadeh)
On Jan. 31, Saman Zamanzadeh, 35, was heading to Orlando, Fla., for an engineering conference. A Canadian citizen since July 2018, he’d travelled to the U.S. numerous times without issue.
This time, at secondary screening, he was asked about a time — before he became a Canadian — when his application for a visitor’s visa was denied. That was around the time of U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban that barred individuals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S.
At the time, Zamanzadeh cancelled his trip, deciding it could wait. His entry woes ended when he became a Canadian citizen — only to return again in recent weeks.
It was the same for Ahmad Keshavarzian.
The 59-year-old construction consultant and his wife were planning to travel to Orlando to see their daughter when he was stopped at Pearson airport. Keshavarzian, who became a Canadian citizen in 2017, had faced secondary screening before, but had always been able to cross the border after answering a few questions.
This time, after 20 minutes of interrogation, Keshavarzian was deemed inadmissible, and told he did not have the necessary visa to cross the border. Canadian citizens generally don’t require visas to travel to the U.S. except in very specific cases, according to the U.S. Embassy’s website.
‘No policy’ to detain based on nationality: CBP
The two Iranian-born Canadian citizens who had served in the Iranian military told CBC News they had never before undergone secondary screening until the killing of Soleimani. One was held up at a land crossing at the Champlain–St. Bernard de Lacolle crossing connecting Quebec and New York on Jan. 17; the other at Pearson airport on Jan. 20.
In an emailed statement this week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection told CBC News “there is no policy or rule that would permit CBP to target or detain individuals based on nationality alone.”
Why not make the Americans accountable for cases like this?– Immigration lawyer Len Saunders
CBP officers “are trained to enforce U.S. laws uniformly and fairly, and they do not discriminate based on religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation,” spokesperson Jason Givens said in the statement.
The statement went on to say individuals who present a valid Canadian passport will be processed for entry to the U.S. as Canadian citizens but to demonstrate that they are admissible, it’s up to the applicant to “overcome all grounds of inadmissibility.”
When Fahimi was denied entry, she asked the border agent why she was suddenly inadmissible despite having travelled to the U.S. so many times previously.
“Well, they made a mistake before,” she recalled the agent saying. “How could the border agency make a mistake that many times?”
Canadian government’s silence ‘disturbing’
For Zamanzadeh, the only recourse he sees is for the Canadian government to step in and make sure its citizens aren’t being discriminated against.
CBC News contacted both Global Affairs Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency this week to ask if the federal government is aware of and concerned about cases of Iranian-born Canadians being interrogated or refused entry at the border. CBC News also asked if any action is being taken to ensure Canadians of Iranian origin are not subjected to any unequal treatment.
Neither federal agency offered a response, referring any questions to the U.S.
For Len Saunders, an immigration lawyer in Blaine, Wash., the silence from the Canadian government is “disturbing.”
Immigration lawyer Len Saunders said he’s received dozens of calls from Iranian-born travellers who have suddenly found themselves unable to travel to the U.S.
“They’re so willing to give the Americans this carte blanche autonomy on Canadian soil,” Saunders said. “They’ve allowed U.S. officers to … basically interrogate Canadians indefinitely at pre-flight clearances, to recommend charges if Canadians don’t co-operate with U.S. officers.”
“Why not make the Americans accountable for cases like this?”
‘A catch-22’
Since tensions between the U.S. and Iran have ramped up, Saunders said he’s received dozens of calls from Iranian-born Canadians who have been given no way to resolve their cases.
“They’re told to go to the U.S. consulate to apply for a visa. And the second they go to the consulate, the consulate says you’re Canadian, you don’t need a visa. And so it becomes kind of a catch-22.”
“It’s profiling,” Saunders said.
“These people have not violated any immigration laws. These people have not had any criminal convictions or anything which stands out as grounds of inadmissibility. The only common factor — and I hate to say this — most of them are born in Iran.”
For now, Fahimi isn’t sure if she will ever be able travel to the U.S. using her Canadian passport.
As she stared out of the train window on her way back home from Pearson, the skyline whizzing past, she thought: “After everything my parents went through for us to have this freedom, this happens.”
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.
