Six-year investigation finds Public Safety forced RCMP to delete info on illegal border crossers

Records obtained through access to information show the data was destroyed due to accusations of racial profiling.

In the wake of Justin Trudeau's 2017 "Welcome to Canada" tweet, sent in response to then-president Donald Trump's ban on immigration from five failed states, Canada's border officials — the Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP — were dealing with an explosion of illegal border crossers at the Roxham Road border crossing near LaColle, Quebec.

In an effort to weed out extremists amongst the illegal migrants, RCMP officers screened Quebec border crossers on religion and values using a questionnaire. 

To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 28, 2017

Activists claimed the questionnaire targeted Muslims, and then-public safety minister Ralph Goodale told the media the RCMP had suspended its use.

Rebel News filed for internal communications within the RCMP about the suspension of the use of the questionnaire by Goodale.

After a six-year delay, nearly 400 pages of documents were turned over, which showed how the public safety ministry blindsided the RCMP by offering the media untrue operational information.

The internal communications show that former public safety minister Ralph Goodale demanded the RCMP to “expunge” any controversial information collected using the questionnaire from their files.

Trudeau government talking points were sent directly to the RCMP from Public Safety Canada to feed to the media, including the infamous "Diversity is our Strength" mantra.

An RCMP briefing note points out that people crossing the border into Canada are committing a crime, and that the police have no clue what their intentions might be — or what other illegal activity they might have been involved in:

When individuals are intercepted crossing the border illegally, their intentions are not known. A preliminary risk assessment is conducted by the RCMP to determine if the person has been previously involved in any illegal activity such as possession of contraband, drug trafficking and/or any connection to organized criminal groups or terrorism. The RCMP assesses each situation and determines the appropriate manner in which to proceed - whether the individuals should remain in RCMP custody pending further investigation or be transferred to the CBSA for their asylum claim to be assessed/processed.

The RCMP further pointed out that the information obtained from the questionnaire should have been saved and kept by the RCMP under their normal operational rules. However, the minister intervened to make sure the RCMP had little to no data on actual criminals.

Federal police were confused about what to do when communications teams found out in the media that the minister said the force wasn't using the questionnaire anymore.

“l know they are still using it.”

In one email, bureaucrats order the destruction of every copy of the questionnaire, including blank copies. 

In a perfect summation of the Liberals' border policy, one bureaucrat explains they don't need to record the interviews with the illegal border crossers anymore because they are not going to charge them, anyway.

“As a follow up to our conversation, the recorded interview are not necessary (if you think it will speed things up) due to the nature of the offence and the fact that most will not be charged with a criminal offense,” the bureaucrat wrote.