CBC News Posted: Mar 16, 2013 3:32 PM PT

Approval for a reality show production crew to film an immigration raid at a Vancouver construction site came directly from the federal government, documents obtained by a Vancouver woman show. Helesia Luke, who has a background in television production and now works with non-profits in Vancouver, was troubled by news of the immigration raid being filmed on Wednesday, so she asked the federal government for the production agreement. The document, which she received within hours, outlines Force Four Entertainment’s desire to enter into discussions with the Canadian Border Services Agency to produce a series on border security in Canada. The document was prepared for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and it bears his signature and approval.

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by Travis Lupick on Mar 16, 2013 at 5:59 pm. Georgia Straight.

A trio of New Democrat MLAs have told the Straight that they don’t want a television show that some have accused of targeting immigrants filming in their neighbourhoods, or anywhere in British Columbia. “I don’t see any point,” said Mable Elmore, MLA for Vancouver Kensington. “I would rather that it not be shot or shown. I don’t want to see it.” Similar positions were taken by Jenny Kwan, MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, and Raj Chouhan, Opposition multicultural critic.

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Contract between CBSA and Force Four by Dean Broughton

By Ian Mulgrew, Vancouver Sun columnist March 15, 2013

Imagine a swarm of black SUVs swooping down Victoria Drive like a scene from a Bourne movie to arrest a bunch of working guys with hammers. We can’t stop gangsters murdering each other and dumping bodies in Surrey but we got those Latin American carpenters illegally framing condos? It was bad enough when we had reality TV shows about cops chasing small-time drug offenders down alleys in their underwear. Now we’ve got Canadian border security agents with cameras in tow arresting a bunch of construction workers as if they were Hells Angels.

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Wendy Stueck. VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail. Published Friday, Mar. 15 2013, 8:49 AM EDT

After being arrested in a border agency sweep of a Vancouver construction site, several men appeared Friday for detention review hearings to determine whether they would remain in custody. For this stage of the procedure, however, there were no cameras present – unlike during the raid, which was filmed as part of a reality television series profiling the Canada Border Services Agency and has become a flash point for questions about government involvement in the program as well as privacy concerns for those who were arrested.

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