Transit Police distance themselves from Canadian Border Services Agency in advance of transportation plebiscite

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      You've got to love the timing.

      On a Friday—the day that governments dump stories that they don't want to get noticed by the public—Transit Police revealed that a memorandum of understanding will no longer be in place with the Canadian Border Services Agency.

      Transit Police have come under fire in the past from immigrants'-rights activists for reporting undocumented migrants who didn't have proof of fare payment to the CBSA.

      In the most notorious case, Lucia Vega Jiménez subsequently committed suicide in a CBSA detention cell in 2013.

      According to a heavily redacted document on the TransLink website, Transit Police referred 328 cases to the CBSA in 2013.

      Of those, 19 percent "resulted in a CBSA investigation, enforcement action or deportation".

      There's nothing mentioned about the Transit Police decision in the media section of its website. Nor is it cited in the media section of TransLink's website.

      We only know about the end of the MOU because Transit Police spokesperson Anne Drennan confirmed this to the media after it was highlighted by the activist group Transportation not Deportation. Here's what it stated on its website:

      “This afternoon, Transit Police informed representatives of the Transportation not Deportation campaign that they will terminate their Memorandum of Understanding with CBSA, that officers must receive permission from a Watch Commander to initiate contact with CBSA, and that they will not detain people without warrants for items that are simply contravention of immigration law.”

      Had there not been a transit plebiscite seeking public consent to invest billions in urban transportation, there's a good chance that this MOU would still be in place today. But TransLink needs to take steps to neutralize its critics in advance of the upcoming vote.

      My guess is the next thing to go will be car allowances for senior TransLink executives. After that, we might even see some salary rollbacks in the transportation authority's executive office.

      Does the new interim CEO, Doug Allen, really need $35,000 a month when Subway workers must pay $5.50 for a three-zone fare from Surrey to Vancouver? 

      A smart leader wouldn't take that amount of compensation at a time like this, especially when his predecessor is still being paid a gargantuan salary.

      How much things have changed since the days when Jimmy Pattison worked for free as the boss of Expo 86.

      Comments

      4 Comments

      The scribener

      Feb 21, 2015 at 1:00pm

      Perks? Too bad we can't immunise these privileged executives from the sense of entitlement and othepeoplesmoneyism to gild the lily to the hilt and our ( the unwashed) disgust.
      Thank goodness for the line to be drawn between transportation and deportation - hoefully the back channels already established over the years of cooperation can be shut down?

      Conscientious citizen

      Feb 21, 2015 at 6:49pm

      This is a fabulous outcome and congratulations to Immigration rights activists who brought awareness to this process. Why not proclaim how the Transportation Referendum is now helping to rally people together in common causes and fix outstanding social justice issues around the transit system? In short-- we don't need cynicism right now, we need people to pull together to improve transit in the region.

      Edward Bernays

      Feb 22, 2015 at 9:11am

      The vote is merely an attempt by those in charge to abdicate their responsibilities for making unpopular decisions. Now that is cynical... and cowardly. Perhaps the position of traveling CEO should be an elected position. At least then we would get to watch a few suits dance every four or five years before they shove all our money in their underpants.

      steve y

      Feb 23, 2015 at 10:07am

      Why do we not want transit police deporting illegals? This seems like a good thing to me. I would like to feel safe on my transit