Immigration hearings told B.C. official under investigation for issuing racetrack licences
Credit to Author: Denise Ryan| Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2019 21:05:28 +0000
Immigration hearings for seven of the workers arrested at Hastings racetrack heard Wednesday that the B.C. government official who issued them credentials is under investigation.
Canada Border Services Agency conducted an early morning raid on Monday at the east Vancouver racecourse, arresting up to 26 backstretch workers.
By law, foreigners with specific track jobs in B.C. must have licences issued by the province’s gaming policy and enforcement branch.
A lawyer for the immigration minister told one of the Wednesday hearings that Brandon Carrion-Gomez, a groom at Hastings, had a licence issued by the enforcement branch official who is “under investigation.”
Carrion-Gomez was “under the impression that if he paid for this licence he would be allowed to work,” his lawyer, Juliana Cliplef, told the hearing.
At the time of his arrest outside the racing office at Hastings track, Carrion-Gomez was carrying credentials issued by the enforcement branch, according to the government lawyer, Leanne Miller. It had his picture on it, but the name of another person.
Gomez, who arrived in Canada on June 9 on a visitor’s visa, had heard work was available at Hastings. After obtaining his licence from the enforcement branch, he was paid $70 a day for his work as a groom.
In a separate hearing, a government lawyer said Javier Olalde, who was also working as a groom at Hastings, told officials he paid $600 to get a licence from an unidentified person. The Immigration and Refugee Board was told Olalde has worked at Hastings in past years, but until this year never had to pay more than $30 for credentials.
Carrion-Gomez, who is studying to become a teacher in Mexico, was ordered to leave Canada and was released on his own recognizance. He told the immigration adjudicator, through his interpreter, that he wants to leave as soon as possible and that his family has already provided him with money to buy a plane ticket.
Olalde, whose son lives in Coquitlam, posted a $1,000 bond and was ordered to leave by October, by the date of a plane ticket he already has.
Race track employees, from trainers and jockeys down to exercise riders and the grooms who look after the horses, are required to be licensed by B.C.’s gaming policy and enforcement branch.
The application includes the requirement to submit criminal record and credit checks, which must be cleared before a licence is issued, according to information on the agency’s web page.
The four-page form asks applicants whether they are Canadian citizens or not and what their immigration status is, such as if they are visitors, on working visas.
And applicants are required to provide work permits or documentation showing landed-immigrant status, according to the form.
With a file from Derrick Penner
More to come …