OTTAWA - A former U.S. special forces soldier, trained to speak Arabic, said he's seen veiled Muslim women laughing at and deriding airport security personnel after refusing to lift their veils.
The soldier was one of several who have shared their stories via e-mail or by telephone of two-tier treatment at Canadian airports.
QMI Agency has reported that while Transport Canada rules required that each person must be checked immediately before boarding, airport employees say it often does not happen.
Transport Minister John Baird has ordered a review of airport procedures and, on Tuesday, said anyone, veiled or otherwise, who puts up a fuss at airport security and refuses identity checks, ought to be arrested.
"If people are intimidating and threatening airport workers doing security checks, we won't tolerate that in Canada," Baird said. "We're seeking 100% compliance not 99%."
The special forces soldier said in his e-mail he was returning to Edmonton from Toronto last Christmas when he spotted a group of three men and four women. When the women were asked to enter a private room and remove their veils, the reader tells QMI the scene erupted. “They harangued this poor security guard for five minutes." He alleges they threatened to file lawsuits.
“Finally this poor guard told them to get going.”
After that the reader says the passengers began speaking in their native tongue mocking “simpleton Canadians” for letting them have their own way.
The former soldier says he then confronted the travellers.
“In their own language I calmly told them not all Canadians were imbeciles and they should really follow the laws of the land where they are. They were quiet as long as we were within earshot.”
