VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada - July 20, 2010 - Shileen Flynn, 29, had already missed one flight and lost her luggage when she says she found herself in a room at the Vancouver airport, naked and squatting, while two crude border agents strip-searched her.

It was December 2009, days after a suspected al-Qaida member supposedly tried to ignite an explosive device aboard a Detroit-bound flight. Flynn had just returned home to Vancouver from a trip to Seattle, and was on her way to Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to start a new job as a public relations officer.

She was a day behind schedule, having missed her flight from the U.S. the night before, and had to catch the next plane to Germany so she could then catch a flight to Spain and start work the next morning. Somewhere along the way, the airline lost her luggage.

She was talking to her mom on a pay phone when a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officer approached her.

“All of a sudden, the guy comes over to me and says, 'Can I talk to you?' I said, 'Of course, why not?'” said Flynn.

She said he asked her where she was travelling and why she was using a pay phone. He told her to take off her sunglasses so he could see her eyes. She slipped them off, looked at the officer, and then pushed them back down. His tone became aggressive, she said.

“He said, 'No take your sunglasses off!'” said Flynn.

As he searched her carry-on bag and asked more questions, a bystander offered her a card for a lawyer, but the officer sent him away, Flynn alleges.

More officers arrived with a police dog who walked up to Flynn, sniffed her, walked away, came back over to her again, hesitated a moment, then left.

Then they brought her to a room with two female CBSA officers for a strip search.

Flynn - a frequent traveller who has been strip-searched twice before - said this time was different. She said the women made her bend over a table, open her legs, and squat and cough. They asked her personal questions, like when she last had sex, Flynn said.

She fought back tears throughout the ordeal.

“I thought, if I start crying, they're gonna think I'm guilty,” she said.

“As soon as they finished the strip search, I started bawling.”

One guard told her if she didn't stop crying, she'd be detained, Flynn said. When she explained why she was crying, Flynn said a guard piped up, “How do you think I feel? I just had lunch. You make me feel sick.”