Members of Vancouver’s horse-racing community are seeking answers after officers with the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) raided Hastings Racecourse and hauled off roughly two dozen backstretch workers.
David Milburn, president of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association of British Columbia, was onsite early Monday morning when CBSA officers and the province’s Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch (GPEB) – more than 20 in all – arrived and arrested an estimated 25 people from the barn area of the racecourse.
“It was clearly well-organized. It would appear to not be a fishing expedition; they were after certain individuals,” Mr. Milburn said. “People were arrested like they were taking down bank robbers.”
Horse trainer Steve Henson and others were shocked to witness the arrests.
“I’m sure there was a better way to do it,” he said. “I know [the officers] have a job to do, but I’m sure they could have done it more discreetly. It was almost like a drug raid.”
The CBSA is providing little information about the event, saying only that it can confirm it was conducting an investigation related to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
“The CBSA conducts enforcement actions when it is believed that a contravention of the Customs Act or IRPA has occurred,” read a statement provided by communications officer Nancy Pham.
Those targeted are believed to be of Mexican descent. They were working in the backstretch – the area opposite the homestretch – brushing and feeding horses, and cleaning stalls.
Backstretch workers are employed by individual trainers, must be licensed by the GPEB and go through a security clearance to enter the backstretch area. They are not employed by Hastings Racecourse or its parent company, the Great Canadian Gaming Corp.
“From a trainer’s perspective, you can’t hire a person who doesn’t have a licence,” Mr. Milburn said.
The Globe and Mail sought comment from GPEB but did not immediately receive a response on Tuesday.
Mr. Henson said the raid-style arrests were not something he was used to seeing in Canada, while Mr. Milburn said the CBSA response was curious.
“Why the federal government, through the CBSA, is so interested in migrant workers at Hastings Park, you tell me,” Mr. Milburn said. “For them to put this amount of energy into it is really mystifying.”
Mr. Henson said it appeared that all who were arrested spoke Spanish, and some of those people spoke little English.
He said he and others are left wondering what happened, and described the mood at the racecourse as sombre following the arrests.
“We know a lot of these people and whether they speak English or not, it doesn’t matter," he said. "They’re still part of our community.”
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Andrea Woo