Border Security, a new Canadian reality TV series, is actually an interesting show, as it follows Canada Border Security Agents working at our borders and airports. 
One of the more intriguing recent episodes followed an agent as she noticed something amiss with an x-ray of a box of cans of baby formula being shipped to Canada. Upon opening the box, she found sealed cans with brand-name labels. But upon opening a can, she discovered it was packed with marijuana.
Other shows depict people being denied entry to Canada for a variety of different things, like having criminal records in their past, bringing suspicious or prohibited items into Canada (like meat) or trying to lie to border agents. It’s almost like the TV show Cops, except for the Canada Border Services Agency.
Does Border Security go too far?
But recently, Border Security TV cameras filmed the arrest of an undocumented worker in Vancouver who was later deported from Canada. While participants of such shows must sign a release to have their face shown, according to this CBC article Oscar Mata did not know what he was signing and he said, “I don’t want to be the face of illegal people. Because people will say all the Mexicans come like that, and we’re not just the Mexicans – we’re too many people from lots of countries.”
Mata was in Canada on an expired student visa, and had been working construction in Vancouver when he and other workers were arrested. One of his supporters held a sign saying “Deportation is not entertainment”.
What do you think? Has reality television gone too far?
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
