CORNWALL, Ontario – A 67-year-old Cornwall Island man has been left battered and bruised following an altercation at the border crossing in Cornwall that has apparently caught the eye of federal investigators.
Antoine Delormier was stopped at the border crossing Tuesday afternoon while he was driving himself to the hospital.
Delormier, who is being treated for heart ailments in Ottawa, was having some breathing issues and was heading to the Cornwall Community Hospital to seek treatment.
“When I don’t feel good sometimes they give me oxygen at the hospital,” he said in an interview from his hospital bed.
What should have been a normal transition through the Canada Border Services Agency checkpoint turned into a melee where Delormier was yanked from his vehicle and fell to the ground where at least two officers placed knees in his back to hold him down, he said.
“I told them I couldn’t breathe,” he said.
Delormier was eventually pulled up and dragged to a nearby bench by officers, he said. He concedes that when officers asked him to leave his vehicle he resisted at first.
After a short time an ambulance was called and Delormier was taken to a cell at the border checkpoint to await the arrival of paramedics.
His wife Donna said in an interview that doctors had to grapple with a partially collapsed lung upon his arrival in hospital, not to mention a slew of bruises and scrapes. Just three weeks ago Delormier had a number of stents placed in his heart, as doctors are concerned about a potential heart condition.
Delormier said the female CBSA officer who advised him to pull over at the border check point said she suspected he was trying to smuggle tobacco into Canada.
“The girl in the booth started writing something down,” said Delormier. “She told me to pull over…where they inspect vehicles.
“They said they had suspicions I was carrying things across the border.”
Delormier denies having any contraband in his vehicle.
“If I was going to run the border I just would have kept going,” he said.
Mason Lazore was in line at the border crossing and witnessed some of the altercation.
“I didn’t see him go down, because the booth was blocking my view,” he said in an interview, adding he was in a different lane than Delormier. “But when I got to the booth I could see two officers with their knees on his back, holding him down.
“When they stood him up he could barely walk…They kind of dragged him to the bench.”
Donna Delormier is having a meeting with Mohawk Council of Akwesasne chiefs about the issue and said district chief Dennis Chausse has advised her that the Ministry of Community Safety is investigating the incident.
In an interview Chausse would neither confirm nor deny this, but did say “another high-level investigation is going to take place after the CBSA completes its investigation.”
Akwesasne Grand Chief Abram Benedict later released a statement.
“At this time, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne has not had direct contact with Antoine Delormier regarding the alleged incident at the CBSA Port in Cornwall,” he said. “Council’s primary concern is to ensure a healthy recovery for Mr. Delormier; therefore we are waiting until he is released from the hospital to speak with him. In the meantime, we have been informed that a review and investigation is ongoing.”
The CBSA had a different version of events but did not address and specifics of the incident.
“The information published in the media is inconsistent with the Agency’s information,” CBSA spokesperson Chris Kealey said in a statement. “Our officers are trained to take appropriate action when necessary to ensure the safety and security of the travelling public, themselves and other individuals in our facilities.”
Kealey added privacy protocols may keep CBSA from making specific comments.
Donna Delormier said she and her husband will also be seeking the opinion of legal counsel before a potential lawsuit is filed.
A CBSA investigator visited the couple in hospital Tuesday.
“She said that she was there to tell my husband he had been ‘unarrested,'” said Donna Delormier. “I said I had worked in probation for over 20 years – what the hell does that mean?”
It took until Wednesday for Antoine Delmormier’s truck to be released by CBSA, said Donna.
“Without one word said,” she added. “They won’t speak to me.
“They want this to go away – but it’s not going to go away. They caused all the injuries.”
Antoine Delormier remains in hospital in Cornwall, where doctors have prescribed antibiotics and pain medication, said Donna. Photographs of his injuries have been taken.
