CORNWALL -- A Canadian Human Rights Commission representative said there is a "mistrust" of the CBSA after it claimed to unearth its own video surveillance footage of an alleged racial profiling incident more than four years after the fact.
The tape was introduced on the day initially intended to be the final hearing for a local Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, which is examining the claim of Akwesasne resident Fallan Davis vs. Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
Davis says she was targeted for a vehicle search by the CBSA on Nov. 18, 2005, because of her native heritage. She claims customs agents were aggressive and verbally abusive towards her during the 45-minute search process.
"...How can we ever have faith that proper inquiries have been made by the CBSA?" asked Canadian Human Rights Commission representative Brian Smith, who noted several other requested items the CBSA has assured are unavailable.
Tribunal chairperson Rejean Belanger has ordered the CBSA to produce an affidavit to explain the tape's sudden surfacing.
"Starting from the time the tape was taken out (of the recording device), where did it go, who used it?" Belanger asked. "We need all that information."
Belanger added: "Any hidden information in the hands of the CBSA, it doesn't help the position of the CBSA in any way."
A CBSA hard drive with unknown contents was also brought to the attention of the tribunal Friday by the CBSA.
CBSA lawyer Sean Gaudet offered no explanation for the years-late disclosure during Friday's hearing. Instead, he spoke to the content of the tape and the technical efforts still needed to make it watch-able.
He explained that the tape is multiplexed, which means it is currently a mixture of numerous cameras' footage on one stream, "like flashing images," Gaudet said. It will take two weeks for CBSA techs to arrange the footage into segments according to each camera, Gaudet told the tribunal.
Gaudet cautioned the tribunal that the video evidence is not a "complete record" of what transpired in the commercial compound at the Cornwall Island Port of Entry.
The video footage, which has no audio component, must be presented to the tribunal by Jan. 15.
Kakwerais, Davis' aide at the tribunal, requested that an independent third-party be responsible for defragmenting the video images.
A bigger problem, however, has been created now that the CBSA tape has surfaced. After numerous delays, and difficulties with scheduling, Davis' witnesses must now return to testify directly about the video evidence, the tribunal ruled.
"Had they been given the opportunity to look at the tapes, it may have helped their memory," Belanger said.
"They may make corrections to what they said before."
When the video footage is entered into evidence at the tribunal, it brings with it new witnesses as well, including at least one who will attempt to explain the process of separating the various camera angles from the tape.
The tribunal is scheduled to resume in Cornwall on March 15, 2009.