The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority is apologizing to an 82-year-old B.C. woman who says she was "humiliated" during an airport security search in Calgary.

Elizabeth Strecker was flying home to Abbotsford last week when security officials asked if she was carrying any gels or liquids. She said no, but she'd forgotten about a gel-filled bag she wears to fill the space created when she lost her breast to cancer.

Strecker said she was reduced to tears after suspicious screeners ordered her to undergo a full-body scan and asked that she raise her arms, a painful process since she had her mastectomy.

Since Strecker's story aired on CTV News Wednesday night, CATSA has reviewed video footage of the screening. Spokesman Mathieu Larocque said an investigation has been ordered and Strecker will receive an apology.

"The main reason why we want to talk to the passenger is, first of all, to express our regrets for the screening procedure that was obviously unpleasant for this passenger," Larocque told CTV News.

"One of our main objectives is to obviously ensure that everybody is safe and secure, but also to ensure that customer satisfaction is achieved, and obviously it was not the case with that passenger, and we want to apologize for that."

He added that security workers are trained to treat disabled and elderly people with particular care.

"When a passenger has a special need or a special medical situation, they need to be treated with extra discretion and extra sensitivity," he said.

Larocque said that CATSA has yet to receive a formal complaint from Strecker, but the security agency would like to speak with her for the investigation, which should be completed within a month.

The security agency received about 1,500 complaints out of 51 million Canadian travellers last year, but Larocque said he did not know how many of those originated in Calgary.

Strecker told CTV News on Wednesday that she was deeply embarrassed by the treatment she received in Calgary.

"I was very upset they would make an 82-year-old lady cry like a baby," she said. "It was terribly humiliating and embarrassing for me."

Federal Transportation Minister Chuck Strahl, who is also a cancer survivor, said he was disturbed by Strecker's experience.

"It sounds completely unacceptable," he said. "[Screeners] are to treat people with respect. They have a security job to do, and we all understand that, but in doing that, they are to treat people with respect."

Another family comes forward

After seeing Strecker's story during, another B.C. family has come forward to talk about what they describe as a similar incident in Calgary.

"I got really upset because my mother went through a similar experience," Thierry Gudel told CTV News.

He said he was appalled by what he describes as airport security's lack of respect in dealing with his 80-year-old mother Lena last August. She was in a wheelchair after shattering her shoulder in a fall.

"They tried to push her up several times, they shook both her shoulders, and she said that the hand went up her skirt, went under her sweater, on her breasts and it went in the back in her underwear," Gudel said.

"They grabbed her arm and pushed it up, and she screamed ‘ouch' and then tried to push it down. They did it three times and she started to cry because of the pain."

He says he plans to file a complaint about his mother's experience.

"I think those people should also be trained in recognizing if there is a disability and how to treat people with respect."

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington



