The most common complaint officials received about the screening process at Ottawa International Airport over the past year and a half came from travellers who accused screening officers of unprofessional, rude and invasive behaviour during body and bag searches, CBC News has learned.
The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) received about 138 complaints between January 2023 and mid-May of this year about the security checkpoint process at Ottawa International Airport. CBC News obtained the data and copies of some of the complaints through an access to information request.
Some travellers used colourful language to describe their experiences with screening officers; one said the officers appeared to be on an “absolute power trip.”
Other complainants used phrases like “truly appalling,” “disgraceful,” “insensitive” and “threatening” to describe their experiences during the screening process. Some claimed screening officers asked them to lift up or remove their tops or skirts in front of other passengers in line.
“Shame on you CATSA,” wrote one “flabbergasted” passenger who said they had to undergo further screening, an experience they described as “unnecessary and uncomfortable physically and emotionally.”
“It is a disgrace,” said the unnamed passenger. “This was [a] complete fail.”
CATSA says it screened about 2.9 million passengers at the Ottawa airport during that time.
In an email, the agency noted the complaints represent “a very small fraction” of the total number of passengers screened and are similar to concerns flagged at other airports. It says it thoroughly investigates all complaints.
After reviewing dozens of the complaints obtained by CBC, one lawyer said “it’s extremely concerning that these practices are happening under the guise of security.”
“We cannot use the excuse of security to allow these kind of practices to continue unchecked,” said Petra Molnar, who specializes in border technologies and human rights.
One traveller who passed through the Ottawa airport said the “the level of unprofessionalism, poor training and poor supervision” he experienced “was really astonishing.”
“And I expect a service of the Canadian government, which is intended to protect us all, to be well-run and efficient because … we’re paying for all that,” Paul Cadario told CBC News.
‘[The] agent asked me to “spread my legs wider”‘
More than a quarter of the complaints CATSA received related to customer service.
Several passengers told the agency they felt “discriminated against” and one said they were made to feel “like a criminal.”
One Indigenous passenger wrote that their ribbon skirt was flagged after going through the scanner.
“[The] agent asked me to ‘spread my legs wider,'” the complainant wrote. “I was asked if I was wearing anything under my ribbon skirt. The agent then asked if I could take off my ribbon skirt.”
The traveller said they were not offered a private room in which to undress. They said they asked to speak with a female screening officer, who conducted a pat-down search instead.
Another passenger claimed an officer asked her to remove her top after indicating that a scan had noticed something in the chest area.
“I mentioned that I could not take my top off, as I only had my undergarment on,” she wrote, adding she was patted down a few steps from the scanner and other passengers.
“I was appalled and embarrassed to be physically searched intimately … Anyone in the area was a witness!”
Some felt screening officers touched them unnecessarily during the screening process.
One passenger said their waistband area was flagged in the scanner and an agent “rubbed her hand down the front of my waist.”
“She told me to spread my legs, then ran her hand up my thigh … and down my other thigh. There was no warning that she was going to do this,” the complainant said.
Another traveller said he was “unjustly accused” of “smuggling items” and said an agent threatened to cause him to miss his flight. They claimed the pat-down search was “overly invasive,” particularly in one area of their body — the passage identifying the area was blacked-out in the copy of the complaint viewed by CBC.
“The insensitivity and [redacted] displayed by this staff member were truly appalling,” they wrote.
One passenger said an agent “took out all of my bras, underwear and extremely private personal items and scattered them on the desk.
“He also unjustly accused me in front of his manager of telling him to shut up, while it was him who threatened me to shut up or he’ll call the police.” The complainant said they demanded an apology from the agent and threatened legal action.
‘Authority trip’ and aggressive behaviour
Another complainant describes an agent “yelling” at them to put items in the plastic bin.
“They seem to really enjoy being on an authority trip,” they wrote.
One NEXUS traveller told CATSA they asked a “rude” officer if they could move to a less busy lane, only to be refused multiple times. They said they spoke with a supervisor, who apologized.
“Absolute power trip,” the complainant wrote.
Another passenger claimed they missed their flight after waiting more than 15 minutes for screeners to “check a little box of chocolate” in their bag, calling it “a terrible experience.”
Other agents were flagged for “forcibly shoving” bins and “violently moving them along,” and for unwarranted touching.
“He even grabbed me at one point and wasn’t authorized to do so,” wrote one complainant.
Petra Molnar, a lawyer and associate director of York University’s refugee law lab, says traveller complaints of “unprofessional” behaviour by screening agents at Ottawa International Airport might signal a need for better training for those officers.
One passenger travelling during the holiday season said a Christmas gnome in their baggage was “squeezed and damaged” by screening officers.
“It is not your right to damage gifts. Unacceptable,” they said. “If it keeps up I will never fly from Ottawa again.”
Cadario, a NEXUS trusted traveller, submitted a complaint after what he described as a unnecessarily invasive screening by an agent in training at the Ottawa airport.
The NEXUS U.S.-Canada joint border control program is designed for pre-approved, low-risk travellers — but on that day, he said, it made no difference.
“I’ve never seen anything so unprofessional, except once at Pearson [airport],” he told CBC.
Some of the complaints viewed by CBC News were questionable — one railed against having to walk on a “dirty airport floor.” A CATSA access to information adviser also said some complaints were not disclosed to CBC because they weren’t CATSA-related, were about another airport or were internal comments.
Calls for better training
Molnar, associate director of the refugee law lab at York University, said the common theme she saw in the complaints was “abuse of power.”
“It seems like these complaints really run the gamut of all sorts of very problematic behaviour,” she said. “Complaint after complaint discussed how discretionary the decisions were, and how there didn’t seem to be a rubric or a standard that the agents were following.”
She said it appears the officers who were the subject of these complaints “are abusing this kind of power differential because they know they can.”
Molnar said she’s seen similar complaints come out of other airports in the U.S. and Europe.
Molnar suggests improved training so that officers can do their jobs “without jeopardizing the human rights of people who are travelling.”
More than a dozen complainants also called for more training for screening officers.
Some complaints ‘unsubstantiated’: CATSA
GardaWorld Security Screening Inc. staff provide security screening at the Ottawa airport under its newest $2.7-billion contract with the Crown corporation.
GardaWorld referred CBC’s request for comment to CATSA.
CATSA declined an interview but said in a media statement that some complaints were deemed “inconclusive or unsubstantiated.” It said corrective measures can be applied if a complaint is substantiated by an investigation.
CATSA said that passengers sometimes “perceive screening officers as impolite or inflexible” when they’re merely following the rules.
The agency added that officers receive ongoing training and are taught to give the same level of service regardless of race, religion, age, gender, language or disability.
CATSA said it’s committed to improving customer service.
A spokesperson for the Ottawa International Airport Authority said that while the screening process is complex, it’s “disappointed to hear of even an extremely small number of negative experiences.”
“We will continue to work with CATSA to ensure every passenger has a positive experience,” the spokesperson said.