Refugee board probes allegations member solicited sex from claimant
Last Updated: Tuesday, October 3, 2006 | 11:27 AM ET
CBC News
A member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada has been suspended amid allegations that he offered a favourable ruling on a refugee application in exchange for sex.
Steve Ellis, a former Toronto city councillor, was appointed to the board in 2000.
IRB spokeswoman Dominique Forget told CBC Tuesday that Ellis has been suspended while the agency conducts an internal review into "very serious" allegations of a breach of conduct.
A South Korean woman, identified only as Kim, and her boyfriend, Brad Tripp, claim that the board member tried to solicit sex from the woman.
To get evidence, Tripp claims he surreptitiously videotaped an encounter between Ellis and Kim at a Second Cup near Bloor Street West and Bathurst Street in the Annex on Sept. 26.
His girlfriend claims she made an audio recording of the same meeting.
Ellis and the woman are shown on the video sitting and talking at an outdoor table at the café.
On the tape, a man's voice is heard saying, "This is what I can do. I'm going to work on it because I really want to be friends with you and I really want you to teach me Korean. You don't, do you have a boyfriend now?"
"Actually, I do," she says.
"No problem. It doesn't matter. So, we can be secret on this too, OK?" he responds.
On another portion of the tape a male voice says, "I want to be good friends with you. I know you have a boyfriend and I have a wife, so if we do things together on the side, that's OK, that's fine."
"Don't worry," he says. "I'm not going to ask you to move in with me or anything like that. I'm not going to fall in love with you or anything. I just legitimately want to help you."
The woman lodged a complaint with the board on Sept. 27 then submitted both the video and audio recording the next day.
IRB said they are investigating and have also referred the matter to the RCMP.
Ellis could not be reached for comment.
