Disabled woman denied entry to U.S. after agent cites supposedly private medical.....

[canada-man]

And the Amerophile Harper regime does not care


Ellen Richardson went to Pearson airport on Monday full of joy about flying to New York City and from there going on a 10-day Caribbean cruise for which she’d paid about $6,000.
But a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent with the Department of Homeland Security killed that dream when he denied her entry.
“I was turned away, I was told, because I had a hospitalization in the summer of 2012 for clinical depression,’’ said Richardson, who is a paraplegic and set up her cruise in collaboration with a March of Dimes group of about 12 others.
The Weston woman was told by the U.S. agent she would have to get “medical clearance’’ and be examined by one of only three doctors in Toronto whose assessments are accepted by Homeland Security. She was given their names and told a call to her psychiatrist “would not suffice.’’

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...cites_supposedly_private_medical_details.html

 

[blackrock13]

and if you actually read the whole article, you would see that this unfortunate occurrence is being worked on between the parties involved and hopefully a acceptable solution will be reached. Harper has little to do with it. You don't travel much, do you? This is not a unique case. It's one government agent suffering a brain fart and justifying his job, but it will work out.

 

[Aardvark154]

So she has to get a medical clearance. Somehow I doubt that many people in Toronto would be thrilled if a bunch of people from the U.S. who had been committed, arrived in Toronto for a few days without the Canadian Border Agency having bothered to ask them for a psychological clearance.

 

[destillat]

So she has to get a medical clearance. Somehow I doubt that many people in Toronto would be thrilled if a bunch of people from the U.S. who had been committed, arrived in Toronto for a few days without the Canadian Border Agency having bothered to ask them for a psychological clearance.

But how did the border agent get the supposedly personal medical information?
What's next? "I'm sorry sir, you have a history of cardiac problems, so we refuse admission because you may abuse our medical system"?

 

[Aardvark154]

Borders are borders are borders. Unless you are a national they don't have to let you in, and they can ask you all sorts of highly obnoxious questions.

 

[destillat]

Borders are borders are borders. Unless you are a national they don't have to let you in, and they can ask you all sorts of highly obnoxious questions.

I agree.
But you didn't answer the question.

 

[fuji]

Borders are borders are borders. Unless you are a national they don't have to let you in, and they can ask you all sorts of highly obnoxious questions.

You are missing the point. Canada somehow provided private medical information to the US. It isn't that they asked obnoxious questions, it's that our government provided data to the US border that most Canadians would have expected to remain confidential.

We, Canada, do not want people refusing to seek psychological counseling that they need because they fear the repercussions of doing so.

 

[Butler1000]

I wonder if there was a police call involved that led to her hospitalization. A suicide attempt perhaps or other issues that led to police involvement. That could have put her into the "system" and flagged.
Other than that I'm not sure how, considering the medical records would, I believe be at best a provincial matter, they came into the hands of homeland security.

 

[fuji]

I wonder if there was a police call involved that led to her hospitalization. A suicide attempt perhaps or other issues that led to police involvement. That could have put her into the "system" and flagged.
Other than that I'm not sure how, considering the medical records would, I believe be at best a provincial matter, they came into the hands of homeland security.

No doubt that is how. I think we need to have CPIC withhold medical related information from the ACUPIES border data system, when there is no indication of violent behavior.

We do not want potentially suicidal individuals refusing to get help because they worry it will negatively impact their employment, travel, etc.

I am confident that we can ensure that information is not used against people within Canada, but clearly, the US intends to use it against people seeking entry. Therefore we should not share that information with the US.

 

[Aardvark154]

I am confident that we can ensure that information is not used against people within Canada, but clearly, the US intends to use it against people seeking entry. Therefore we should not share that information with the US.

While I basically agree with what you are saying. At the same time one doesn't want to get this to the point where both the U.S. and Canada are now requiring Visas.

 

[groggy]

I wonder if there was a police call involved that led to her hospitalization. A suicide attempt perhaps or other issues that led to police involvement. That could have put her into the "system" and flagged.
Other than that I'm not sure how, considering the medical records would, I believe be at best a provincial matter, they came into the hands of homeland security.

That should be the big concern.
If the US now has access to our medical records, what else do they have access to?
Our medical records aren't even supposed to be shared with anyone.

 

[blackrock13]

That should be the big concern.
If the US now has access to our medical records, what else do they have access to?
Our medical records aren't even supposed to be shared with anyone.

If as B100 said, the police were involved in the earlier incident, her medical records would not be necessary for her profile to be flagged. The whole point is this one person overacted and it is a shamed, no major conspiracy or spying scandal.

 

[rld]

You are missing the point. Canada somehow provided private medical information to the US. It isn't that they asked obnoxious questions, it's that our government provided data to the US border that most Canadians would have expected to remain confidential.

We, Canada, do not want people refusing to seek psychological counseling that they need because they fear the repercussions of doing so.

IT would not be "Canada" providing the information, it would be "Ontario" who are in charge of this lady's medical records.

While we don't have many facts yet, we do know that:

Richardson's stay in hospital was preceded by a 911 call, placed by her mother, but she says police were never involved, just an ambulance.

 

[Butler1000]

That should be the big concern.
If the US now has access to our medical records, what else do they have access to?
Our medical records aren't even supposed to be shared with anyone.

I have a feeling the information came from a police report and not a medical file. If there was some sort of violence(no not deliberate but due to mental illness) it would have gone into the report.
These reports I'm betting get reduced to a short synopsis which probably result in a border guard seeing "previous incident involving mental illness and violence" without any details and further information about successful treatment.
That's all the immigration officer would have to go on. They would then have to make a call based on whatever guidelines they've been handed and their judgement.

Its a sad case. But I don't see anything malicious or machavalian here. She was caught in the new security web that exists due to the treaties signed after 9/11.

(Let's add most of those treaties were signed off by the Chretien Liberals btw, and added to by the present govt...)

As long as she gets it sorted out in the long run...well that's life.

 

[groggy]

I have a feeling the information came from a police report and not a medical file.

We should operate on facts, not 'feelings' about what the government is doing.
After all, this is the same government who spied on the G20 and is now advertising to hire a company to monitor facebook et al 24/7.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/feds-to-monitor-social-media-round-the-clock-1.2445224

 

[Aardvark154]

I have a feeling the information came from a police report and not a medical file.

While obviously not knowing the specifics in this instance, that would fit with normal operating procedure.

 

[blackrock13]

We should operate on facts, not 'feelings' about what the government is doing.
After all, this is the same government who spied on the G20 and is now advertising to hire a company to monitor facebook et al 24/7.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/feds-to-monitor-social-media-round-the-clock-1.2445224

Talk about operating on facts, not. The G20 spy exposé is a long way from the some woman being denied based on information you are even questioning how they were obtain. BIG SLEAZY would be proud of you.

 

[fuji]

While I basically agree with what you are saying. At the same time one doesn't want to get this to the point where both the U.S. and Canada are now requiring Visas.

I don't think ANYONE has a problem with the RCMP sharing criminal records with the US. Beyond that, where the RCMP has real information that someone is a threat, obviously, that too should be shared.

In fact, in my opinion, Canada should simply refuse to issue a passport to anyone who has been convicted of a violent crime within the last ten years. Why would we want to be exporting people like that, to ruin our reputation in other countries? We apparently do issue passports to thugs, which is unfortunate.

HOWEVER- What's happening here is that police are recording all sorts of personal/private information about people onto "contact cards", and then those "contact cards" are being shared with the US. This woman wasn't arrested. She wasn't charged with any crime. She didn't have a judge rule that she was a mental health risk. She had a disturbance in her home, which police attended, and subsequently went to seek mental health assistance -- the police record this information into their databases, and subsequently shared it with the US.

I think the first question is, why is that information being recorded in police databases to begin with? And if it HAS to be recorded for some internal domestic use, it should be recorded into some secured computer system that is NOT shared with other authorities. In fact, while I can see a few reasons why the local Toronto police might want to know that a certain individual may be a suicide risk (e.g., so that they can prioritize getting there and bring the right kind of help), I don't even see why that information is being shared between Toronto police and the RCMP, and I certainly don't see why it should be shared with a foreign government.

We should restrict the information that is shared between police departments, and with other governments, when the information has nothing to do with a criminal act or a violent crime.

I am not even convinced we should be sharing contact card with the US, rather than simply sharing convictions.

 

[fuji]

IT would not be "Canada" providing the information, it would be "Ontario" who are in charge of this lady's medical records.

In particular, it is the RCMP that is sharing this information with the United States through the ACUPIES border exchange system. They do in fact have some control over what sorts of records they share through ACUPIES. It does not need to be everything in CPIC. And even within CPIC, information about an individual is categorized into different data banks.

In RCMP mumbo jumbo, what we need is a new data bank for mental health information, and that data bank needs to be exempted from ACUPIES, police background checks, etc., although it probably shouldn't be exempted from people submitting Privacy Act requests for information about themselves the way the other exempt data banks are.

 

[groggy]

Talk about operating on facts, not. The G20 spy exposé is a long way from the some woman being denied based on information you are even questioning how they were obtain. BIG SLEAZY would be proud of you.

The star is reporting that a police file may have been opened from one of the suicide attempts, which lessens the worry somewhat.
Still, having medical info make it into US hands is wrong.

We should be wondering why Harper is spending money to monitor Facebook.