https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/...iat-a-la-protection-de-la-vie-privee.phpHells Angel Hells complains to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
The Hells Angel Éric Bouffard wants to be able to travel freely and goes in crusade against the federal authorities.
The biker, one of South Division's most influential, was turned away when he arrived in the Dominican Republic in 2016 because he is part of a criminal organization. It would also have happened a second time during a trip to Mexico. He obviously did not find it funny.
Eric Bouffard is indeed a great traveler. According to the 2000 Diversion police investigation into money laundering, the biker had flown thirteen times between 2006 and 2009, including eight times to the Dominican Republic or Mexico.
Bouffard wants to know why he is now registered by the authorities of these countries and how they have received information about him, presumably in order to show that it violates his rights.
Since 2017, his lawyer, M th Stéphane Handfield, made requests under the Act on Access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Agency Border Services Canada and Passport Canada.
M e Handfield said to have received satisfactory information from the last two bodies, but not the RCMP.
Éric Bouffard wants to obtain from the federal police all the information that he has about him, whether at his offices on Dorchester Street or at Trudeau Airport.
Last summer, the RCMP responded that "all of the information requested is subject to an exception under subparagraphs 22 (1) (a) (i) and 22 (1) (a) (ii) the Privacy Act, which states that a public body may refuse to disclose information that belongs to it.
No answer
The Office of the Commissioner first responded to last year's biker's lawyer that his complaint was well-founded because the RCMP took a long time to respond, but closed the case, saying the federal police had ended up answering.
"The RCMP responded that it can not answer, not an answer," fumed M e Handfield, who has filed a second complaint with the Commissioner.
"How do you explain that public bodies respond favorably to [an access to information request] and that the RCMP continues not to do so? This is unacceptable. "- M e Stéphane Handfield, lawyer Eric Bouffard
"If Mr. Bouffard wants to talk about his case, he can do it, but we, we do not have the right because of the Law on the protection of the private life", explained to the Press the sergente Camille Abel, RCMP's Division C (Quebec).
Other cases
Presumably, the information requested by the rider is intelligence-related and may be difficult or impossible to obtain.
In a La Presse article on the return of several bikers on their arrival in the Dominican Republic and Mexico, published in December 2017, the Sûreté du Québec spokesman, Inspector Guy Lapointe, declared that the decision to block Quebec riders on their arrival in these countries "belongs to the local authorities".
An employee of the Mexican consulate in Montreal added, saying that the decision to drive back a traveler was a "prerogative of local immigration officials".
In December 2017, La Presse revealed that a dozen Quebec motorcyclists had been turned back in these two countries, but other cases have since been added, including individuals linked to other organized crime groups in Montreal.
In April 2018, at least three Quebec motorcyclists were turned back on their arrival in Brazil, where was held the World Run, an international event of the Hells Angels.
It is unclear whether other bikers or individuals linked to other criminal organizations have initiated steps similar to those of Éric Bouffard, but it would not be surprising if some people follow suit.
This seems to be a new trend for the Hells Angels to use public mechanisms and judicial channels to assert their rights or obtain redress.
Some sued for tens of millions of dollars the Attorney General of Quebec, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions of Quebec and the Sûreté du Québec for their imprisonment or their arrest in the wake of the SharQc and Magot-Mastiff investigations.
