MYOPIC RULING HURTS CANADA'S BORDER SECURITY

A ruling by a B.C. provincial court judge that border guards need to
obtain a search warrant before conducting a thorough search of a
suspicious vehicle not only sets logic on its head but poses a grave
risk to public safety by hamstringing unduly officials who already
face a challenging job at Canada's borders.

In a stunning decision, Judge Ellen Gordon refused to accept into
evidence the 50 kilograms of cocaine that customs officers discovered
hidden in a false compartment in a truck driven by man who aroused
their suspicions.

Gordon found that border guards acted on a "lucky hunch," not a
reasonable suspicion, after they waved over a nervous-looking Ajitpal
Singh Sekhon's pickup truck for an inspection at the small Aldergrove
border crossing in the Fraser Valley on Jan. 25, 2005.

The officers testified that Sekhon's jaw was rigid, he had a tight
grip on the steering wheel, wouldn't maintain eye contact and became
increasingly tense. He was sent to the customs office for further
questioning while inspectors conducted a closer search of the truck
with the help of a drug-sniffing dog.

After the dog identified the presence of drugs, the officers drilled
holes in the truck to locate the cache of cocaine and towed it to
another border post nearby to dismantle the vehicle. Sekhon was
allowed to contact a lawyer when the drugs were found.

What to two veteran customs officers was a logical response to
warnings emanating from years of experience were, to Judge Gordon, a
gross violation of Sekhon's rights. She ruled that the man had been
arbitrarily detained, denied access to legal counsel from the outset
and been subjected to unlawful search and seizure since the officers
hadn't obtained a search warrant.

"In such circumstances it was incumbent upon the investigators to seek
the judicial authorization of a search warrant. They did not," Gordon
wrote. "A warrantless dismantling can be described only as a search
carried out in an unreasonable manner."

It's almost as if the good judge never has set foot outside Canada or
experienced what every other international traveller fully understands
and expects, especially after 9/11: One reasonably can expect border
authorities to ask probing questions, search one's belongings and
ascertain that someone seeking entry to the country isn't a threat or
doing anything illegal.

The case of Ahmed Ressam, the would-be "Millennium Bomber," is a good
example of the invaluable role "hunches" of customs officials play in
securing national borders. Although in that case it was U.S.
authorities who noticed Ressam's suspicious behaviour and acted
quickly, their counterparts in Canada are no different as the country
faces challenges from drug smugglers, would-be terrorists or other
undesirables who want to penetrate its borders.

Far from being a groundbreaking ruling that sets guidelines on how
future border searches are to be carried out, as Sekhon's lawyer
Lawrence Meyers portrayed it, Gordon's ridiculous decision is a
prescription for mayhem.

The Canada Border Services Agency sensibly is appealing the case, but
if the ruling is upheld by a higher court -- given this precedent,
even that bizarre outcome can't easily be dismissed -- border security
would be rendered laughable or entry to Canada will become a nightmare
of lineups as customs officials scramble to obtain a warrant each time
they have reason to search a vehicle.

Perhaps Gordon will next rule that the unreasonable search provisions
apply at airport customs, as well. Given her record of oddball rulings
since being appointed to the bench in 2005, it doesn't seem much of a
stretch.

As the Vancouver Sun notes, Gordon once delayed by five months the
sentencing of a driver with a blood alcohol level twice the legal
limit who'd driven on the wrong side of a highway and killed another
motorist and put scores of other lives at risk. It was so that the
alcoholic woman wouldn't have to spend Christmas in jail.

In another case, she gave a teen a year's probation and 50 hours of
community service after his knife attack on a man put the victim in
hospital for eight days. Gordon said the teen "has suffered so much
stress over this matter that he has developed ulcers."

Logic of this calibre has now led to a decision that puts Canada's
border security at risk. Of course, Gordon's ruling should be appealed
and reversed. Bad enough it brings disrepute to the justice system. It
shouldn't be allowed to make a mockery of border security, too.