Pubdate: Tue, 23 Nov 2010 Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2010 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/letters.html Website: http://www.calgaryherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66 Author: Elizabeth Thompson, ipolitics.ca AIRPORT, PORT WORKERS MAY BE SUBJECT TO STRIP SEARCHES Canada's border guards could soon get new powers to strip search employees in airport and ports across Canada in a bid to crack down on the smuggling of illegal drugs, such as marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine. CBSA officers also would be allowed to frisk employees and to use various types of scanners and detectors to examine goods in their possession. The proposed new regulations, which do not have to be passed by Parliament, would apply to everyone whose work requires them to be in proposed new customs-controlled areas, regardless of whether they are baggage handlers or ambulance attendants responding to an emergency. All that would be needed to frisk employees or trigger a strip search would be for a CBSA officer to have reasonable grounds to believe a worker in a customs-controlled area is smuggling something illegal. While the proposed regulations can require CBSA officers to require someone to open their mouth during a strip search, they also would have to conduct the strip search in a private area. Currently, border officers have limited powers to search employees as they leave a customs area. Under the proposed changes, they will have the power to search employees within a customs-controlled area. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D