Christian Leblanc filed a complaint against Canadian Customs after he was arrested and held for several hours at Hemmingford train station in October. A fear that he will not soon forget and that shocked him so much that he never returned to the USA to see his girlfriend.
Christian Leblanc lives in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, where three years ago he met Karen Reynolds, who lives in Plattsburgh, New York, through a dating site.
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For almost two years, Mr. Leblanc did not hesitate to drive back and forth to visit his girlfriend in Plattsburgh. The 85km journey takes 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Photo: COURTESY OF CHRISTIAN LEBLANC
“I'm retired, I don't have children and I have time to travel,” explains the electronics technician, who points out that his friend can't travel to Quebec so easily.
An unforgettable Sunday morning
His misfortune began on the morning of October 29, 2023. I had to go to Brossard to see my dying mother and to give my brother a break that day, specifies the 64-year-old Quebecer.
He claims he was stopped at the border for a routine random check. “I was calm, polite and smiling, I thought it would only take 10 minutes,” he says.
He said Officer Joseph Zamboti was nervous and aggressive, spoke poor French and asked him to empty his pockets on a table outside the building.
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Mr. Leblanc's small pocket knife confiscated at customs in Hemmingford, Quebec in October 2023.
Photo: COURTESY OF CHRISTIAN LEBLANC.
According to Mr. Leblanc, he was arrested by the customs officer after discovering a very small pocket knife and a double ring. “I have to arrest you, these weapons are illegal,” he repeats.
The traveler was very surprised and asked him if he could call his mother to tell her that he would be late, but Agent Zamboti grabbed his phone.
The customs officer told me that he would put me in a cell and search my vehicle, my bags, my electronic devices and my person.
Mr. Leblanc repeats to him that he needs to call his mother first, but this time the customs officer asks him to put his hands in the air. If you resist, I will handcuff you, he allegedly told her.
He remembers drivers looking at him like a dangerous criminal.
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A double ring is placed on two fingers at the same time like brass knuckles.
Photo: COURTESY OF CHRISTIAN LEBLANC
He states that the customs officer then locked him in the cell at the train station where a second customs officer was working. “I couldn’t believe my ears,” he says.
He points out that he had to take off his belt and shoelaces and take out his pants pockets to make sure they were empty.
Humiliation and deep discomfort
Officer Zamboti then felt his body before asking him to pull down his pants to show him that he was not hiding anything in his underwear. Mr Leblanc said he had never felt so humiliated.
He adds that from his cell he could see customs officials searching his belongings and tampering with his prescriptions.
I didn't understand it, I had no criminal record, I didn't have anything illegal like drugs or weapons on me… I didn't have a body in the trunk of my car either.
Policeman Zamboti kept coming back to me to tell me that he had called the police and that they were coming to arrest me, he remembers, still in shock.
He explains that he could hear the customs officer when he used the phone, which was just two meters away from the cell.
I heard him say in English that he was new, that he had never arrested anyone before and that he didn't know exactly what to do, he stressed.
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Mr Leblanc states that he prefers Hemmingford station to Lacolle station as the journey is 4km shorter and there are no queues. (archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jean-Claude Taliana
The Quebecer does not know how many hours he spent in detention because he did not have a watch or a cell phone. Probably almost 5 hours, he estimates.
He points out that customs officials eventually let him go and that no charges would be filed if he paid the $1,500 fine.
He claims he paid the fine. However, due to setbacks and his emotions, he did not go to Brossard.
A traumatic experience
Mr. Leblanc explains that he felt like an animal in a cage and that he was scared because he didn't know if he would spend the night at the train station.
He says he went home and wrote down everything that happened to him before challenging the fine and filing a complaint against the customs officer with the Border Services Agency and the Canadian Ombudsman.
It was humiliating, traumatic, scary, I was alone and helpless with no one to call… these people have total power to decide what they will do to you.
It was a completely unjustified arrest and the agent's reaction was disproportionate, he adds, referring to the Charter article on protection against arbitrary detention.
He says he filed the complaint because he didn't want other travelers in the country to suffer the same fate. It makes no sense to treat people like that, he says.
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The small border post of Hemmingford in Quebec.
Photo: Google map
Mr. Leblanc, who lost his mother four weeks later, has not ruled out a civil lawsuit. “I am neither a criminal nor a terrorist nor a bank robber,” he said.
Customs response
Because misfortune never happens alone, Mr. Leblanc was unable to take his wife to a Vermont hospital in the following weeks because she had to undergo surgery for a neck tumor before starting radiation therapy.
“I’m too scared to cross the border at the moment,” he concludes.
In an email, the Canada Border Services Agency wrote that it cannot discuss specific cases for confidentiality reasons, but takes travelers' complaints seriously.
She adds that travelers entering the country may face more scrutiny. Any irregularity could prompt an official to conduct a further review, she concludes.