Sunday, August 22, 2010

Border Guards’ Firearms Trainer Fired; Union Calls Move ‘Vindictive’

(Chris Cobb — Ottawa Citizen)

The firearms expert chosen to supervise the weapons training of Canada’s border guards has been dismissed by the Canadian Border Service Agency in what his lawyer says is “vindictive and unfair” treatment.

RCMP Sgt. Richard Groulx, one of Canada’s leading firearms trainers, appears to have been unwittingly caught in a bitter dispute between the border guards’ union and senior agency managers in Ottawa.

Groulx remains employed by the RCMP but is now fighting to continue the secondment to CBSA, which began almost four years ago when he was hand-picked to lead the firearms training of the country’s 4,800 border guards.

The union-management dispute is over the arming of customs officers who are asked to take part in joint search operations with the RCMP and other police forces. Read more here.