Imminent changes at YVR

Here is a summary of the changes on the way at Vancouver airport.

• 24-hour customer care in the international arrivals area
• hourly walk-throughs of the customs hall
• round-the-clock medical response in the international terminal,
• bigger, brighter signs in multiple languages
• a messaging service from the customs hall to the public greeting area.

Total cost $1.3M CAD. On the whole I have to say, I am impressed by the speed of the response. I also appreciate that a lot of these steps are geared to customer care and there isn't a boondoggle that involves security cameras and scanners.

On a personal note - I recently caught a flight to the US via VYR. Though an experienced traveller, it was difficult for me to locate the US Customs gate and run the maze to get through. Also, having a parent with mobility issues I am sensitive to hallways that do not have moving sidewalks, escalators or wheelchair-inaccessible passages. I felt VYR has room for improvement in respect to accessibility and signage.

Investigation #1 - The CBSA review

The CBSA report was one of four probes, including a provincial public inquiry, into the death of Robert Dziekanski on Oct. 14.

Alain Jolicoeur reported the results of the CBSA investigation.

• No one from the CBSA has spoken to Dziekanski's family since the death, or offered an apology.
• No one will be disciplined, because the investigation found no wrongdoing.
• 30 officers were on shift at the time, but no one could find Dziekanski when a family call came through asking for his whereabouts, because they assumed he would be in the secondary investigation area.
• When the call came, no one checked to see that he had actually passed through primary investigation three hours earlier, even though that information should have been available.

The report acknowledged the following failures.

• CBSA lost track of Dziekanski for more than six hours. According to a timeline issued by CBSA, Dziekanski arrived at 3:20 p.m., passed primary inspection at 4:09 p.m. and wasn't again identified until 10:40 p.m., when he tried to exit the CBSA hall.
• (when he tried to exit the hall) a CBSA officer advised him he needed to go to secondary, and directed him toward that area (but) Mr. Dziekanski spoke little or no English and a Polish interpreter was not readily available.
• A call from Dziekanski's family was made at 7 p.m. to CBSA, but they couldn't confirm that Dziekanski had made it through primary inspection.

I suppose the conclusion is the CBSA processes are busted if in spite of the individuals' best efforts a man died on their watch.

Here's the recommendations by the CBSA to remedy the system.

• more cameras,
• improved interpreter services
• the option of more patrols and security checks within the CBSA secure area at Vancouver International Airport.
• people referred for further examinations will report to the secondary examination area within a "reasonable amount of time,"
• stepped-up patrols and better communication between travellers and those awaiting their arrival.

A Call for Justice: A Letter to the MP

The people to contact are your MP, the minister for Transport Canada - Lawrence Cannon and the minister for Public Safety - Stockwell Day . Their addresses are as below.

The Honourable Lawrence Cannon
Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
Tower C - 330 Sparks St.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1A 0N5
Phone: 613-991-0700
Fax: 613-995-0327
email: mintc@tc.gc.ca

The Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Phone: 613.995.1702
Fax: 613.995.1154
Email: day.s@parl.gc.ca

Please send an email to them today. Feel free to use the following email or adapt from it.

Dear Minister ____,
On October 14, Mr Robert Dziekanski, a first time visitor to Canada was killed at the airport. The cause of death is attributed to two taser shots fired at close proximity by RCMP officers present at the scene. From video footage of the event it is evident that Mr Dziekanski was no threat to either himself or to anyone else. On the other hand he seemed to be suffering a severe anxiety attack on account of his confinement at the airport for ten hours after passing through customs. In stead of offering medical attention or negotiating with Mr Dziekanski, the officers seemed to behave in a fashion that can only be called trigger-happy. Furthermore, these officers also attempted to cover up their incompetence by lying about the sequence of events leading up to Mr Dziekanski's death. The events have only been brought to light because of video footage of the event captured by a bystander.

I fear the incompetence of the RCMP officers stems from a systemic failure and request you to raise this matter in the parliament. Since this event also took place in an area secured by customs officers at a national airport I request an enquiry into the airport procedures in handling visitors to Canada.

The video footage of the event is publicly available. No conscientous Canadian can see that and not be appalled by the sequence of events. I trust you will share my concern and shame at having treated a fellow human in such a fashion. Canadians look to you to pursue this investigation to the fullest extent.

Yours very sincerely,

_________

In case you send in your mail to the MP's, please take a moment to register your vote in the sidebar. Let it not be said that Canadians condone this and do not speak as one on how they feel on this issue.

Justice for Robert Dziekanski

On October 14, Robert Dziekanski, 40, died at Vancouver International Airport hours after he arrived in the country. He was on his way to Kamloops to live with his mother in the B.C. Interior.

An excerpt from article in the Toronto Star on Robert Dziekanski's final moments. Here's the video [warning: graphic visualization].

The bystander's camera clicks on early in the morning of Oct. 14 as the 40-year-old Dziekanski appears to be attempting to barricade himself inside a secure area of the airport's arrivals terminal.

No one yet knows why Dziekanski spent 10 hours in that secure area already, having arrived via Frankfurt earlier the day before.

Police were trying to find other people who had been on his flight as part of their investigation.

In the video, a tall and swarthy Dziekanski lines up desk chairs, a small wooden table and a clipboard along the doors separating the secure zone from the public waiting area.

The doors wave open and shut as he builds his barricade.

People gathered in the arrivals hall look on and Dziekanski glances furtively over his shoulder. His blue- and beige-striped shirt is open at the collar and appears wet with sweat.

He steps outside the doors, wielding the table in front of him, fear apparent in his eyes. He is muttering in Polish – the crowd thinks it's Russian – and some try to soothe him.

"There's nothing wrong, it's OK," one man says. A woman approaches, holds out her hand and beckons.

But he turns away and goes back inside, ignoring the woman now trying to speak with him through the glass.

Kostackeyj says of the segment of video that Cisowki has seen, it is this section that most breaks her heart.

"She saw her son, at the beginning, looking for help. She thought that maybe he was trying to write a message, he was looking for help and he was frightened," he said.

"He, in her mind, was trying to get help and he ended up dying as a result of seeking that help."

The woman eventually turned away from Dziekanski and chaos begins.

"He's freaking out," a bystander yells on the video as Dziekanski heaves a computer onto the floor.

The wooden table shatters against the glass. He picks up the computer a second time.

"Sir, sir, put it down," someone yells. Dziekanski stops.

Security approaches the doors, and Dziekanski, chest heaving, mops his face with the sleeve of his dirty white jacket.

He stands waiting, fear evident in his eyes, but calm.

"He's so scared," a woman can be heard saying. "Just leave him."

Security officers turn their backs and talk to each other, and in the background what sounds like airport officials discuss what to do next.

A Cathay Pacific flight with 300 people aboard is due shortly and someone can be heard suggesting customs officials hold passengers back.

A spokesman for the Vancouver Airport Authority said they wanted to review the video before commenting.

Four RCMP officers arrive, the camera panning from the frustrated looks on security guards' faces to the men in uniform striding through the hall.

Loud cries of what sound like "polizia," can be heard as the officers are told by someone that the man is behind the door and only speaks Russian.

They vault over a railing and walk Dziekanski behind the glass doors. He gestures at his luggage as they appear to be talking to him.

He throws up his hands in the air and walks away.

The officers follow, apparently indicating he should put his hands on the counter of an information desk behind the glass.

Dziekanski stands with his back to the counter and the officers fan around him.

Crack – the sound of the 50,000 volts of electricity zapping from an officer's gun can be heard.

Dziekanski winces and starts screaming, his hand waving a stapler madly in the air.

He grabs at his chest and lunges through a doorway, howling.

Crack – a second shot, electricity sizzles, and Dziekanski writhes on the ground, spinning in circles.

Police surround him again, the bystanders gasp in amazement. A voice can be heard yelling "hit him again, hit him again."

The four officers clamber on top of him, restraining his arms, his head.

Dziekanski twitches as they fight to restrain him.

Finally, he is still.

The video is hard to watch. It has four brawny men going up to a clearly petrified man who's suffering an anxiety attack. He even seems to welcome them by saying Polizei, Polizei - perhaps mistakenly believing that they are coming to his help. They zap him twice and sit on his neck. The use of the force was uncalled for. Keeping a disturbed man penned in a secure area in the airport for ten hours is hard to explain. We need an inquiry into these.

They tried to bury the truth

Here's Paul Pritchard's account of the events and his fight to get back his video tape from the RCMP. The RCMP originally didnt want to release the tape fearing it would taint the proceedings(!).

While others in the waiting area called for security, it took some 25 to 30 minutes before security and police arrived, recalled Pritchard.

But upon their arrival, it was clear that the police had decided to use a Taser gun before they even got near Dziekanski, said Pritchard.

"I heard 'Can I or should I Taser him?' before they even got to Mr. Dziekanski," says Pritchard. "Right away they Tasered him."

Three police officers then struggled to handcuff Dziekanski, who by now was on the floor. Dziekanski was unconscious about a minute later, said Pritchard.

Police immediately called "Code Red" and medics arrived about five to eight minutes later - a time period that Pritchard believes was too long.

Pritchard said that in the 25 minutes prior to security and RCMP officers arriving on scene, at least five people - including women - went up to Dziekanski to offer help.

Although he was clearly distressed and behaving strangely "none of us felt threatened at any time. We weren't scared, women were going right up to him," said Pritchard.

Pritchard's account is in stark contrast to that given by the RCMP, who said Dziekanski had been behaving violently and erratically in the international arrivals area and they were unable to calm him.