Being Facebook friends with a gangster is not “a reliable descriptor of a real-world
friendship or close connection”
that should prevent employment, Canada’s Federal Court has ruled in an unusual case over an RCMP background check.
The court ruling on the impact of social media on real life came after a Simcoe, Ont., woman failed her security clearance to work in the cannabis sector because of someone she had as a Facebook friend.
Danielle Capin, 39, applied for a security clearance to allow her to work with a legal cannabis producer. Under the Cannabis Act, certain jobs in the cannabis sector require passing a background check to weed out criminal infiltration.
Capin submitted her personal information — including fingerprints — for a security check in 2022 that confirmed she had no criminal convictions. But the RCMP’s Security Intelligence Background Section still flagged information from her activities in the marijuana industry before it was legalized in 2018.
In June 2013, Hamilton police raided two commercial premises that had been converted into indoor grow operations for cannabis. Capin and others were arrested and charged, but two years later all charges against her were withdrawn. She was also arrested after a traffic stop in 2014 and charged with possession of marijuana, but that charge was withdrawn the next day.
Her background security check report also included an article from the Windsor Star from 2012 about Capin’s involvement with a marijuana seed store that shut down a few months after opening.
The RCMP then red-flagged that she and her husband were both Facebook friends with a man police allege is a gangster.
In a 2024 letter from Health Canada’s Controlled Substances and Cannabis Branch, Capin was told her security clearance was being refused.
“It is my opinion that you pose an unacceptable risk to public health or public safety, including the risk of cannabis being diverted to an illicit market or activity,” the letter said.
“A search of Facebook posts demonstrates that you have ties to an individual who is well known to be involved in organized crime,” the letter said. “Given your history with an individual within organized crime groups, I believe that you are vulnerable to being induced or coerced into committing illicit activities on their behalf, even if you were not already a willing participant.”
Capin wrote back that the decision was “absolutely outrageous and fallacious” and “grossly unfair.”
She said none of the police interactions resulted in convictions because they did not involve illicit cannabis, and a Facebook friend “is insufficient evidence of a relationship,” let alone a tie that creates risk to public safety.
A second assessment by Health Canada agreed her police interactions were not a concern but maintained that the Facebook friend remained a problem.
None of the security screening documents explicitly or directly name the problematic person, or the criminal organization, but screenshots included by the RCMP of its background check highlight a Facebook page of a Cambridge, Ont., man.
A perusal of his Facebook account by National Post reveals he is a large man with arm tattoos and a fondness for selfies, bling, family, motorcycles and cars. One photo from 2016 shows a group photo that includes a man wearing a Hells Angels Motorcycle Club T-shirt.
Capin appealed the denial of her security clearance to the Federal Court.
Ottawa’s lawyers argued that any connection to organized crime was ample reason to deny a security clearance.
Judge Michael Manson, however, said how the government got from a Facebook friend to believing she is vulnerable to inducement or coercion is not explained. The officials didn’t even clearly say who the person is, what the criminal organization is, or the criminal activity the person is allegedly involved in.
“The reasons do not identify any other features of the relationship, such as frequency of contact, dependence, shared enterprise, financial ties, or repeated interactions, that might support a predictive assessment about inducement,” Manson wrote in a decision released last week. Without explanation, the decision has “no reasonable factual basis.”
The decision to refuse Capin a security clearance was declared unreasonable and was sent back to Health Canada for a redetermination.
Capin declined to comment on her case when asked by National Post.
The cannabis company she was applying to work for, Pür Botanicals, appears to be a family-run firm registered in 2019 in Simcoe. The company did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication deadline.
• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | Twitter: AD_Humphreys
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