FAMILY SEETHING AFTER `NIGHTMARE' EXPERIENCE AT SUMAS CROSSING

VANCOUVER - It was supposed to be the Christmas road trip of a
lifetime, a chance for two stepsisters to bond while driving the 2,400
kilometres from the small town of Pekin, Ill., to Abbotsford.

Brittany Davis, 22, an American citizen, was coming to visit her
father for Christmas accompanied by her Canadian stepsister Crystal
Stewart, 20. And it was all going well, until they rolled up to the
Sumas border crossing at 6 p.m. on Dec. 12.

"What happened then was a nightmare," said Crystal's mom, Tina
Stewart, who has filed a complaint with the Canada Border Services
Agency about the girls' alleged treatment.

CBSA official Jennifer Bourque said Thursday that the complaint would
be investigated.

"We take all allegations of misconduct seriously and thoroughly
investigate every complaint by a member of the travelling public,"
said Bourque.

However, she said privacy legislation prohibits the agency from
commenting on the incident at this time.

According to the family, officers brought the stepsisters inside for
questioning after suspecting they had marijuana in the car. The women
were allegedly told they would be arrested unless they confessed where
the drugs were being hidden.

Brittany said she told the officers there were no drugs in her car.

"I gave them the keys and willingly let them search the car," said
Brittany, who added she had previously visited Canada five times
without problems.

Tina and her husband Jim Stewart - Brittany's father - became aware of
their plight when one of the officers who had seized Crystal's
cellphone accidentally dialed Tina's number.

Tina said she could overhear the conversation between the officers.

"They were saying they could smell cigarette smoke in the car and
because it smelt funny they were convinced it was marijuana," said
Tina.

She said her stepdaughter had been smoking cigarettes in the car.

"American cigarettes might smell different [than] Canadian cigarettes,
I suppose. But when I heard that I went, `Oh my God, we had better go
down there.' These are two really good kids; they've never been in any
trouble in their lives," she said.

"We are a law-abiding family and nobody in our family has any sort of
criminal record. Brittany is a wonderful young woman and I could
furnish countless character references for her from both sides of the
border."

When the Stewarts arrived at the border at 7:30 p.m., they found the
two women in tears.

"They were told the police were on their way, and were being told:
'Why don't you save us time by telling us where the drugs are,'"
recalled Tina.

"They kept telling them there were no drugs hidden in the car and all
that seemed to do was make them angry.

"But when we got there the whole drug thing was dropped. The two girls
were scared to death and had been crying their eyes out."

Tina said the officers then changed tack and began harassing her
stepdaughter for attempting to move into the country illegally.

In October, Brittany had applied for permanent residence status in
Canada to be closer to her father.

"They saw this on the computer and said because of the amount of
possessions she had in her car they believed she was attempting to
move into the country illegally," said Tina.

"They were focusing on a body pillow she had and [were] saying, 'Why
would she bring this?' and that she wouldn't bring a thing like that
if she was flying to Mexico on holiday, which is true. But she was
driving a car and was planning to stay with us for a couple of
months," said her stepmother.

"In the end they kind of set us up. They told us it would be best if
Jim took Crystal home, but Brittany should drive back into the United
States, turn around and come back, and the chances were pretty good
she'd be allowed in," said Tina.

So Tina and Brittany followed their advice, stopping first at the U.S.
border crossing to explain why Brittany had been refused entry into
Canada.

When they drove up to the Canadian border crossing, the same group of
officers was waiting for them.

"This time it was even worse. It was a nightmare trying to deal with
them. They were going on about the permanent residency application
and, `Why would she be coming now?' and we're saying, `Because it's
Christmas and she wants to be with her father,' " Tina said.

It went on for hours, until past midnight, when the officer
interrogating Brittany wrote a report recommending she be refused
entry and banned from entering Canada for a year.

Tina said his supervisor decided to amend this and gave her permission
to stay in Canada until Jan. 31 but made the family post a $2,000
bond.

"We are appealing this. Brittany did nothing wrong," said her
stepmother.

Meanwhile, Brittany and her family are afraid that all this might
affect her application for permanent residency. If she is served with
an exclusion order Jan. 31, and banned from entering Canada for a
year, she fears her application will be rejected.