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OTTAWA — Customs officers are not guilty of racial profiling when they use on-the-job experience to decide who to stop and search at Canada’s airports, the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled.

“Officers on the front line, such as the officer herein, cannot be expected to leave their experience — acquired usually after many years of observing people from different countries entering Canada — at home,” Justice Marc Nadon said, writing on behalf of a three-person appeal panel.

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Justice Nadon made the comment in overturning a tribunal decision that quashed an $800 fine imposed against an Ottawa woman, Ting Ting Tam, who failed to declare some pork rolls in her luggage.

The Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal ruled last year that Ms. Tam had been the victim of racial profiling by a Canada Border Services Agency customs officer at the Macdonald-Cartier International Airport.

Ms. Tam, 72, a retired hairdresser, returned to Ottawa after visiting family in China on Nov. 7, 2012. She presented a customs officer with a declaration card, stating that she was not bringing meat or meat products into the country.