Federal officials opening private mail

Compiling a database: Some lawyers see grave privacy risk in anti-crime tactic

Charlie Gillis
National Post

Immigration Canada is inspecting the contents of private mail and storing the information on a computer database as part of its battle against people smugglers and international criminals, the National Post has learned.

Documents obtained through the Access to Information Act show the intelligence branch of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has taken advantage of little-known legislative changes to co-operate with Canada Customs in the business of intercepting or copying "suspect" mail without a warrant.

The resulting database contains documentation "being sent in the mails or by courier services internationally," according to a training manual for immigration intelligence officers entering the details.

"This information will also assist in the identification of people smuggling and criminal rings, as well as identifying individuals who may, for example, have adopted improper identities (and nationalities) in Canada."

The manual, which was obtained by Richard Kurland, a Vancouver immigration lawyer, highlights the privacy trade-off implicit in Canada's fight against illegal immigration.

"I think law enforcement is great: There are all sorts of people that we need to keep out of the country," he said. "But you need controls. You can't just tap someone's phone, why should you be able to open their mail?"

Mr. Kurland said there is nothing to stop Citizenship and Immigration from expanding their interception of letters to any group of Canadians.

"This is not about immigrants; they can open the mail of all sorts of people.

"How do they choose whose mail to open? Who knows?"

While government officials say the measures are needed to staunch the flow of fraudulent migration, civil libertarians and lawyers who fear their clients' mail has been intercepted say the cost to privacy is too high.

"I'm not 100% sure what this has to do with smuggling at all, because the documents are being sent to people in Canada," said Joyce Yedid, a Montreal lawyer whose clients' documents have gone missing or arrived unsealed. "They're not being sent for any other purpose, so I don't see the connection. This is a non sequitur."

Ms. Yedid said mail addressed to her at her law office has also been opened.

The Immigration Act has long allowed officials to seize documents at ports of entry such as airports or harbours. But the intelligence manual represents the first evidence of activity immigration lawyers have long suspected -- that officials have been seizing personal mail and keeping files on it.

Ms. Yedid described years of frustration trying to determine who intercepted her clients' mail and where it went. She also raised questions about the legality of the procedure.

"My clients have told me that some of these envelopes were clearly marked as being covered by solicitor-client privilege," she said. "To the best of my knowledge, they have no right to open these things."

The intelligence manual, which was heavily censored before release, explains to immigration officers how to enter information from private mail into SSI-2000, a database created to support intelligence activities. Among other things, it instructs them to record the names, birthdates, family information, destinations, travel histories, and to describe any other documents seized. If a package contains travel documents, it recommends recording airline ticket, baggage tag and seat numbers.

The 24-page document says the database will be upgraded to have scanning capabilities, meaning officials will be able to enter photographs or images of documents.

Immigration Canada was cleared to start collecting such information by a little-publicized amendment to the Customs Act, which passed through Parliament in an omnibus bill in 1992. Customs had previously been permitted to seize goods if it suspected a violation of its own act. The new law permitted the seizure of goods, including mail packages, if an officer suspected violation of "any Act of Parliament."

In the case of the Immigration Act, Customs officers act as agents for CIC in identifying and seizing suspect mail or courier packages.

Officers are not required to obtain a warrant before opening and photocopying the material, which they copy or seize and send on to the immigration department.

Danielle Sarazin, a spokeswoman for Immigration Canada, defended the practice as a necessary measure against the increasing frequency of document fraud and false refugee claims.

"The whole purpose of seizing mail is to preserve program integrity," she said. "What we want to do is take fraudulent documents out of circulation. We also want to seize documents that can be used to effect the removal of people who should not be in Canada."

Ms. Sarazin could not identify the precise criteria Customs uses to seize immigration-related mail, but said CIC provides officers with profiles of suspect pieces.

"Immigration knows what kinds of packages are questionable, so we'll share that information with Customs."

yeah, I've now had quite a few packages opened, all have contained things like whey protein, creatine, etc. - the worst seems to be coming from the US - fortunately there will never be any gear sent to my home address so those assholes can forget about finding any in my mail, hehe

Anyway point is that the contents of mail should never identify you or be incriminating in any way. Not only can it be looked at, but the fuckers are actually photocopying and storing the stuff on file.

Then again we knew this all along - the RCMP has done this since the 1950's - something about communism or something.