What is the current state of the law and procedures at the border entry at Vancouver International Airport?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from R. v. Nagle, 2011 BCPC 481 (CanLII):

Before venturing further, I believe it is necessary to briefly discuss the law and procedures at the border entry at Vancouver International Airport. Regina v. Simmons 1988 CanLII 12 (SCC), [1988] 2 S.C.R. 495 considered the routine questioning of a traveller at an entry port in the context of “detention” and the Charter. At para.27 Dickson C.J., after considering the American jurisprudence, said the following: “It is, I think, of importance that the cases and the literature seem to recognize three distinct [page517] types of border search. First is the routine of questioning which every traveller undergoes at a port of entry, accompanied in some cases by a search of baggage and perhaps a pat or frisk of outer clothing. No stigma is attached to being one of the thousands of travellers who are daily routinely checked in that manner upon entry to Canada and no constitutional issues are raised. It would be absurd to suggest that a person in such circumstances is detained in a constitutional sense and therefore entitled to be advised of his or her right to counsel. The second type of border search is the strip or skin search of the nature of that to which the present appellant was subjected, conducted in a private room, after a secondary examination and with the permission of a customs officer in authority. The third and most highly intrusive type of search is that sometimes referred to as the body cavity search, in which customs officers have recourse to medical doctors, to X-rays, to emetics, and to other highly invasive means. I wish to make it clear that each of the different types of search raises different issues.”

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