Madam Speaker, the untimely, perhaps, unnecessary death of Adam Angel, 42 years old, a Canada customs border officer at Roosville in my constituency, has shone a light on the federal Liberals' systemic starvation of resources to protect our borders.
Customs inspectors from British Columbia and parts of Alberta will be converging at the Roosville border crossing tomorrow to protest safety and security conditions at the port. The death of Mr. Angel had a very traumatic effect on Canadian customs officers. The officers say the safety and security of Canada is simply not good enough. It certainly is not as it should be, and that is why they will be demonstrating. So what is the background?
On October 17, 2004 Adam should not have been working alone. He was fatally ill and struggled all night long and finally collapsed at 6 a.m. He died shortly after.
The situation highlights the dangerous situation that our border and customs agents are placed in when required to work alone. They are working alone up to 30% of the time.
Four days after his death, Mr. Angel's supervisor advised her superiors, “I do not know how long we will be able to sustain two CIs per shift, both financially and burnout wise, but I will keep at it until I am directed to do otherwise”. Unfortunately two weeks later, they were back to one person.
The Deputy Prime Minister told the House that all was well because her ministry was doing a study. I have copies of many studies. They detail faulty communication equipment, lack of training, and a total lack of resources.
One report called “Working Alone Strategy” analyzes 139 ports. Ninety-two sites, or 66%, reported technical difficulties with communication tools, with 40% of all sites reporting difficulties contacting their main office due to no one being in the main office or a breakdown in communication tools. There are inadequate safeguards, such as poor lighting, narrow counters, and doors that do not lock.
A previous border services report detailed work alone sites in remote areas. It also said that about 70% of these sites face technical difficulties with communication tools.
The ModuSpec report, “A Job Hazard Analysis”, made 26 recommendations. In the two years since that report was released, only half of the recommendations have been acted on. The Canadian Customs Officers Critical Incident Summary Report profiles over 100 dangerous, life threatening events. The Paul Burkfolder report, the working alone strategy, reports, reports and recommendations, what else is needed?
All of these things were known prior to Adam Angel's death, yet little has happened. Why? Because of a lack of resources. At Roosville for example, there are 29 staff on the American side of the border compared to 10 employees on the Canadian side, which is why we cannot double shift. Is it any wonder officers are refusing to work alone?
Last month at 3 a.m. a customs inspector followed the CCRA policy to allow two dangerous looking individuals to proceed. He called the closest police who were more than one hour away from Roosville. He was told “Sorry, I can't come either because I'm working alone as well”.
Today there was a headline, “We can't afford terror fight”. Even if a threat is known, the RCMP report that they do not have enough staff to stop it. This is a chronic Liberal shortage.
It is dishonest to state that the Liberals have provided sufficient resources for border security. It is dishonouring to Mr. Angel's widow and family to imply that all is well. Once again the Liberals are saying one thing and are underperforming on the other. How can the U.S. take us seriously? More important, how can Canadians feel safe?