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As it stands, the definition of “founded” provided by the agency says that “aspects in the allegations made in the complaint were valid.”

Tim McSorley, the national co-ordinator of the Toronto-based International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, says the definition is far too vague to help lead to changes within the agency’s culture or for the public to be properly informed.

Nonetheless, he says the limited information shows cause for concern, particularly the allegations of racism, questioning of travellers’ nationality, and name calling.

“It shows that the majority of complaints are around respect or disrespect for travellers. …For us, in particular, the incidents of racism (from border officers) are something in our work we’ve heard more about whether from Canadian citizens, or travellers from abroad,” he said during an interview.

The descriptions of the allegations in the access documents are brief.

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

On Nov. 6 last year, one of the reports says, a “client states the border service officer was rude and yelled at her until she passed out.”

A CBSA spokesperson said in an email the medical distress wasn’t directly caused by the officer.

“During secondary examination, the traveller was found to be in medical distress. The border services officer followed proper first aid protocols in line with the training provided to all frontline staff. The investigation concluded that the (officer) did not play a role in the travellers medical distress,” wrote spokesperson Nicholas Dorion.