An open letter to Wetaskiwin MP Blaine Calkins:
How is that the searches performed by CATSA are not in conflict with sections 8 and 9 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
After looking into this for a while, I find that the Supreme Court of Canada has guidelines for what is considered reasonable search:
1. Where it is feasible, a search must be approved by prior authorization. Although it may not always be reasonable to insist on prior authorization, there will be a presumption that a warrantless search is unreasonable.
2. The person authorizing the search must act in a judicial manner. Although the person need not be a judge, he or she must be in a position to assess in a neutral and impartial fashion whether a search is appropriate on the evidence available.
3. The standard for issuance of the warrant is similar to American “probable cause”: There must be reasonable and probable grounds established upon oath to believe that an offence has been committed, and that evidence of that offense is to be found at the place to be searched.
As a former conservation officer, I’m sure you are very familiar with these guidelines.
I do understand the need for security in airports, as well as other places, however the assumption that a person may intend harm, without any outward indication of it, really does seem to contradict ones freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.
Does it not bother you that these searches are being conducted by people that are not peace officers or agents of the crown? As such, can they really be “...in a position to assess in a neutral and impartial fashion whether a search is appropriate on the evidence available?”
The recent increase in the invasiveness of the searches arbitrarily performed is disturbing to me, as well as unjustified, in my opinion.
More people have died in sporting accidents than terrorist acts in Canada.
I also find the searches and presumption of guilt insulting since I am a former Canadian Forces member, and the son of a Canadian Forces member. In fact, my father, mother, brother, and I have all served in the Canadian Forces, in one capacity or another, as non-commissioned members.
I have passed security clearances to work on Canadian Forces aircraft. I have taken an oath to protect the country’s citizens and the royal family. That oath did not expire when I was honourably discharged from service.
I respectfully request that you put it to whomever it needs to be put to that we uphold the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Guy McDowell