THE FREDERICTON CONNECTION

You don't often find a country so happy to see one of its citizens
returning from abroad that it will shower the lucky soul with gifts. When a
Fredericton woman arrived home from Florida and unpacked her luggage, she
found a plastic bag of marijuana nestled at the bottom, with a tag
identifying the previous owner as Revenue Canada, since folded into the
Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.

What fleeting thoughts must have scampered through her mind? "If they'd
asked, I'd have preferred the Walkman." Or even: "Did they mix up my
luggage with Stockwell Day's?"

Another recipient might have accepted the gift with equanimity -- a few too
many stalks and seeds, but it's the thought that counts -- but no, this
honest citizen figured something was amiss and handed it over to the
police, who returned it to Canada Customs. And, says the Canadian Press
account, it turned out the agency had planted the drug in her bag as she
landed at the Moncton airport, as part of an exercise to train its
drug-sniffing dogs.

The woman is not amused, feels her privacy has been violated and may
consult a lawyer. Fair enough; a customs official says somebody went way
too far. But if she won't accept that gift, might she consider offering
sanctuary to the other victim in this story -- some poor drug-sniffing mutt
whose career evaporated on that day when a Fredericton woman carrying a bag
of marijuana walked clean by him at the Moncton airport?