The Sun 

Federal tribunal forced Matsqui prison to reinstate guard

A prison guard at Matsqui Institution who was suspended without pay after being charged with sexual assault is back on the job after he appealed his suspension to a labour board.

Balkar Singh Basra was suspended in April 2006 after the Correctional Service of Canada received a letter from Crown counsel telling them he had been charged in connection with a date rape in Surrey.

The letter, which is quoted in the labour board's decision, states Basra met his alleged victim through a chat line and, on the couple's second date, the two met for drinks at Basra's home with a plan to go out for dinner.

"According to the police report ... after a few sips of the third drink, which Mr. Basra made for her, the complainant began to fade, feeling unfocused and hazy," the letter states. "She awoke the next morning naked on Mr. Basra's bed. She was unable to remember most of the previous evening after the point of sipping the third drink."

According to the letter, Basra had given the woman a false name, but police were able to track him down using the woman's cellphone records.

"When questioned by the police, Mr. Basra denied having sex with the [woman] or even knowing her and refused to give a DNA sample," the letter states.

However, police obtained a warrant forcing Basra to provide a DNA sample -- which, according to the letter, matched a sample taken from his alleged victim.

Basra was charged with sexual assault and is scheduled to go to trial on Dec. 10.

Basra's lawyer, Stephen Hutchison, said his client plans to plead not guilty -- but refused to comment further on the case.

A few days after CSC received the letter from Crown, the acting warden at Matsqui suspended Basra pending CSC completing its disciplinary investigation.

Basra grieved that suspension to the Public Service Labour Relations Board.

On July 11, 2007, board adjudicator Paul Love ordered CSC to reinstate Basra -- and for it to pay him more than a year of back pay and benefits, plus interest.

In an interview Thursday, CSC spokeswoman Line Guibert-Wolff said Basra has since returned to work at Matsqui -- a medium-security prison in Abbotsford -- but refused to say in what role.

She said CSC doesn't agree with Love's decision and is seeking a judicial review in Federal Court.

"We feel that the adjudicator erred in law and exceeded his jurisdiction," she said.

In his ruling, Love said Basra was entitled to go back to work because CSC had not completed its disciplinary investigation in a timely manner.

Love ruled it shouldn't have taken more than a month for CSC to do a risk assessment on Basra to determine if he could return to work.

Instead, the investigation was still not complete by the time of Basra's hearing last October -- and CSC had still not interviewed Basra or his co-workers.

"The CSC did not treat Mr. Basra fairly and, in particular, did not investigate in a timely manner and did not obtain his side of the story," Love wrote.

Love also noted that more than a year had passed between Basra's alleged crime in Sept. 2004 and him being charged in March 2006 -- a period during which he continued to work at Matsqui without any problems.

n suspending Basra, CSC said it was worried about the risk he might pose to female staff or female visitors.

But Love found there were several jobs Basra could be given at the prison -- such as the graveyard shift -- in which he would have no contact with women.

Basra's case was brought before the board by the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.

Gord Robertson, the union's Pacific region president, said it believes Basra should not be disciplined unless he is convicted.

"He's innocent until proven guilty," said Robertson. "If he's found guilty . . . we [will] obviously re-assess at that time."

He also said the union may have handled the case differently if Basra had been suspended with pay instead.

"In this case, they took away his livelihood, which is why we thought it was important to defend," said Robertson.

Basra's case may not be unique.

In his decision, Love notes there is another guard working at Matsqui "who is being investigated for sexual assault but who has not yet been charged."

The other guard is not named in Love's decision.

And Guibert-Wolff refused to comment on who the guard is or the status of the case.