Davis vs. C.B.S.A. Pregnant woman forced in Mobile X-Ray machine 3 times in Akwesasne?

Davis vs. C.B.S.A. Human Rights Tribunal on Monday, November 3oth 2009.  The tribunal started at 9:30am and lasted until 3:30pm.

Teiohontathe Davis provided the first witness statement and she was interrogated by Katenies and Kakwerais.  Teiohontathe talked about the experience she had on November 18th, 2005 in her community, when Canadian Border Services Agents decided to lead her vehicle into a huge mobile X-Ray machine.  The X-Ray machine is called a VACIS (Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System (gamma-ray imaging system made by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)) and it emits gamma rays through 6 inches of metal.

Teiohontathe provided details about why she felt terrified and abused when the C.B.S.A. agents demanded that she drive her vehicle up to a red Danger sign and underneath a large X-Ray machine arm.  Teiohontathe had reason to beleive that she was being racially profiled and may be one of the first to be forced to drive into a commercial X-Ray machine.  She was scared and wondered why the C.B.S.A. agents ran out to her vehicle and demanded that she drive away from everyone and behind a building, where she would be hidden from public view.  That was not a normal procedure.

Teiohontathe frequently travelled through the C.B.S.A. checkpoint an average of 12 times per day, to go to work, grocery shop, bring her children to school and other activities.  The C.B.S.A. agent usually was not so nervous before, November 18th 2005.  The C.B.S.A. agent acted nervous and refused to answer Teiohontathe’s questions.  They forced Teiohontathe to put herself and her unborn child next to a massive commercial gamma-ray imaging system, not once, but Three Times!   The once-friendly C.B.S.A. agent, was avoiding eye contact, refusing to answer her questions, and his nervous demeanor caused Teiohontathe to phone her grandmother to ask for help.

It was very cold that day and the C.B.S.A. agents forced Teiohontathe to exit her vehicle and stand out in the cold for at least 45 minutes.  Her fingers were so cold, she was not able to hold a pen to write later.  They refused to allow Teiohontathe to go inside the C.B.S.A. building or in any vehicle to get warm, while they searched everything in her SUV.

An elder stopped over to check on Teiohontathe’s safety and the C.B.S.A. agents disrespected him to the point that he had to physically backup and go sit in his own vehicle to watch from a distance.  That caused Teiohontathe to feel more fearful of the C.B.S.A. agents.  At one point, one of the C.B.S.A. agents asked Teiohontathe if she was moving contraband cigarettes.  Teiohontathe responded by telling him that she works for a living and he laughed at her.  Then he asked Teiohontathe “Do you know what are society thinks of you people?”  Teiohontathe knows the C.B.S.A agent as ‘DeMeer’ with badge number 11275.

Teiohontathe endured derogatory racial comments from the C.B.S.A. agents, out in the cold.  She became so upset, she started hyperventilating and noticed that her fingers were purple, chapped, and so swollen that she could not move them.  Some of the C.B.S.A. agents tried convince Teiohontathe to pay taxes for clothes and boots that they found in her SUV.