In a rare move, the Canada Border Services Agency has apologized to a Toronto woman, who complained that a border guard threw her permanent resident card on the floor and threatened to cut it with scissors.

“I would like to offer you my sincere apology that the actions of one of our employees were so distressing to you,” wrote Jeff Walters, acting director of port-of-entry operations at Fort Erie, in a letter dated Nov. 23.

“I assure you that the behaviour you have described is not condoned under the CBSA code of conduct.”

While the border agency said “appropriate administrative action” would be taken to ensure the officer is aware of the need to remain professional at all times when interacting with the public, it has refused to reveal the identity of the subject officer or the disciplinary action being taken.

At around 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 24, Liu Yazhen, 60, arrived at the Peace Bridge port of entry on a Megabus coach after spending about a week visiting her son and friends in New York City, said the woman’s daughter, Karen Chen.

A male officer checked her permanent resident card — a travel document all landed immigrants must carry to get back to the country — and asked some questions. However, Liu answered, “No English,” according to her daughter, who moved here from Fuzhou, China in 2000.

“The officer then threw the PR card to the floor. After that, he went into a room and back, and brought a pair of scissors and showed to my mother he wanted to cut the PR card, but he didn’t cut it and let her go,” recalled Chen who, with her husband, runs a convenient store.

“Being from China, my mother was scared and didn’t want to get into trouble. She is afraid if they will let her in if she leaves Canada again.”

Jean D’Amelio-Swyer, a CBSA spokesperson, said the border agency uses video-recording equipment at its ports of entry to capture the interaction between officers and clients, but would not say if the incident was captured.

Should a complaint be deemed valid, she said, the agency could overturn an enforcement action to return a fine or goods seized, review and revise policies, seek legislative clarification/revisions or take disciplinary action against the subject of the complaint that can range from a written reprimand to termination.

“Upon conclusion of this investigation, the manager responsible provided the findings to senior management. Senior management made a final decision on the appropriate measures, in consultation with the CBSA’s human resources branch,” D’Amelio-Swyer wrote in an email to the Star.

“CBSA will not be providing any other information . . . for privacy reasons.”

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Chen said the family is not satisfied the agency has refused to disclose the disciplinary action taken against the officer.

“They didn’t explain why he did it. The officer owes my mother an apology,” said Chen. “My two sons found out about this when they opened the letter from CBSA. We kept this from them because we wanted them to love this country, to believe it’s good and equal.”

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