A Turkish national flew from Paris to the islands of St-Pierre-Miquelon in hopes of sneaking into Canada, but with no idea how.
That is, until he met a Canadian sailboat owner in a bar, who offered to transport him across the 25-kilometre stretch of ocean separating the French archipelago from the south coast of Newfoundland.
That plan, hatched over drinks, didn’t go smoothly for either man, as detailed in the sworn affidavit of a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) investigator filed last month in provincial court.
The Turkish man ended up in CBSA custody and had two phones confiscated. The Canadian made a mayday call to the Canadian Coast Guard a few days after the Turkish man arrived in Grand Bank, when his boat went into distress.
Stayed in abandoned house
According to the seven-page affidavit, after sailing from St-Pierre to Grand Bank, on southern Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula, the Turkish man told CBSA he stayed in an abandoned house before taxiing to the Argentia Marine Atlantic terminal with the Canadian on Sept. 11.
When the duo discovered the ferry to Nova Scotia wasn’t running that day, they continued on to St. John’s, landing in the George Street bar district at around 9 p.m.
At some point around Sept. 12, the Turkish man claimed asylum at RNC headquarters, telling police he had been “smuggled” into Grand Bank and that “he would do anything to get to Newfoundland from St-Pierre and would pay any amount of money to do so.”
Despite this, he said no money was exchanged and that he and the sailboat owner were friends.
Taxi company sounds alarm
On Sept. 13, CBSA spoke to a worker at a taxi company in Marystown, who called regarding a “fare of concern,” according to the affidavit.
The worker told CBSA that the Turkish man, who had returned to Grand Bank the night before, was looking to drive back to St. John’s that morning before taking the DRL bus to Port-aux-Basques.
He was picked up by CBSA officials later that day.
The boat owner, meanwhile, who hadn’t checked in with border authorities upon re-entering Canadian waters, slipped away.
But two days later, on Sept. 15, his boat was towed to Burgeo by the Canadian Coast Guard after a distress call.
“The vessel has ‘gone dark’ as it has its automatic identification system (AIS) turned off; therefore the current location cannot be confirmed,” reads the affidavit, which states CBSA is now attempting to locate the boat owner, who is from Ontario.
Turkish man returned to France
It’s unclear why the Turkish man wanted to come to Canada, but the CBSA affidavit says Canadian authorities had previously denied his request for a visa. According to other filings at provincial court, he has since returned to France.
The Ontario boat owner is under investigation for breaching the immigration act, by aiding or abetting someone coming into Canada in violation of the law.
As part of their investigation, CBSA seized two cell phones from the Turkish man.
Because no charges had been filed after the three months, by law, border services officials had to seek permission from a judge to hold onto them. Details of the case are outlined in documents filed last month to support that request.
CBSA spokesman Guillaume Bérubé said in a written statement that an investigation is ongoing.
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