Border officials say Polish man not mistreated at Vancouver Airport

VANCOUVER, B.C. - A border services official says media reports of another Polish family having trouble tracking a loved one at Vancouver International Airport are incorrect.

Reports circulating Friday said Wes Abramowicz encountered the same difficulties Robert Dziekanski's mother faced when trying to trace his 28-year-old nephew Pawel Marach at the airport last Sunday.

Abramowicz said border officials repeatedly refused to release information about his nephew but admitted six hours later that the man was being held on immigration concerns.

The airport's border services district director said officials followed "due process" when dealing with Marach and acted in accordance with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

"Mr. Marach was kept fully apprised of his situation and legal rights at all times," said Yvette Monique Gray in an emailed statement released late Saturday.

Though the privacy act limits the amount of information officials can release about a case, Gray said Marach was determined to be "inadmissible to Canada," and was further detained until a flight could take him to London, England.

Gray added that Marach was given the opportunity to contact Legal Aid and "make other contacts."

His family members were also told of his whereabouts upon inquiry at the border services information counter, she said.

The incident brought back bitter memories of the Dziekanski case in which the 41-year-old Polish man died after wandering the airport for 10 hours and ending up in a confrontation with RCMP officers who used a Taser.

Dziekanski's mother Zofia Ciswoski said the latest incident suggests nothing has changed at the airport, despite her son's death in Oct. 2007 and the inquiry that sprung from it.

Cisowski said she received no help finding her son and was horrified another Polish family faced a similar situation.

Health, financial reasons and non-compliance with the immigration act due to invalid documentation or previous inadmissibility are among the factors in determining entry to Canada.