Bermuda is set to lodge an official protest over a mother and sick child held up by Canadian immigration officials as they rushed to a Toronto hospital for urgent tests on the ill baby.

Chief Immigration Officer Martin Brewer said: "It always troubles us when we learn that treatment of our residents abroad has been less than it should have been.'' And he revealed that Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Paula Cox had earlier complained to Canadian authorities about treatment handed out to Bermudians trying to enter their country.

Health Minister Nelson Bascome also launched a probe into allegations that medical social workers had given wrong advice to the family.

Dr. Brewer said: "The Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister views this incident with concern and will be formally contacting the relevant authorities in due course.'' He spoke out after furious mother Raymanda Davis slammed both Canada and Bermuda for paperwork problems which held her, her mother Carolyn, and weeks-old baby Yanai up at Toronto's Pearson Airport for three hours.

The seriously-ill baby and the two women were held in detention -- because little Yanai did not have a passport of his own.

And Ms Davis said she feared her son -- suffering from a mystery illness which caused vomiting and weight loss -- could have died at the airport or on the flight back home if they had been deported.

Ms Davis added that she had been "treated like a criminal'' in Canada and not even allowed a phone call.

The three were eventually allowed to leave the airport after an agonising three-hour wait -- and little Yanai was placed on breathing equipment as soon as he arrived at the top-rated Toronto Sick Children's Hospital.

But Dr. Brewer denied claims that bureaucratic red tape in Bermuda contributed to Yanai's lack of a passport and the family's nightmare at Toronto's Pearson Airport.

He said there was an express passport service -- and that Mrs. Davis had been told that she needed passport photographs of Yanai before the travel document could be issued.

But Carolyn Davis insisted the medical emergency transfer had been handled between hospital social workers and Bermuda Immigration officials.

And he appeared to question why it had taken nearly a month from the mid-July incident to log a complaint with the department.

But Carolyn Davis said Yanai's illness had been "traumatic'' and branded Dr.

Brewer's comments as "totally insenstive.'' She added: "Our prime concern was Yanai -- and we didn't want to speak out of emotion, so we waited.'' Bermuda to protest over baby Yanai And she stuck to her claim that staff at the Island's Immigration Department were "rude and very unhelpful'' -- and that she could provide witnesses to her treatment.

Carolyn Davis said: "I was never told by anyone I needed photographs until I got to the Immigration Department -- anyway, we had lots of photographs which could have been used.

"But the woman slapped the papers on the counter and said `it won't be happening today' -- and she refused to let me speak to a supervisor.'' Carolyn Davis added: "I'm coming from a point of view of clarity and truth. I don't want to stir anything up. But I do want to make sure this never happens to anyone else.'' Dr. Brewer, however -- despite denying the claims -- also offered an apology to the Davis family.

He said: "The staff at the Immigration front desk do not remember any incident when the Davis' passport request was dealt with.

"All I can say now, a month later, is that if any member of the Davis family was treated in the way described, then that treatment was completely out of character for Bermuda Immigration and we apologise, of course.'' Last night, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Immigration Ministry said they could not discuss individual cases without a signed waiver -- but appeared unrepentant over the family's ordeal.

The spokeswoman said: "What normally happens at the airport is that people are required to have proper travel documents and that includes an infant child.

"If there is any question or people don't have the proper documents, they would be required to undergo an examination, which is basically an interview with an immigration officer -- sometimes people refer to that as detention, but they're just waiting to be interviewed.'' But Carolyn Davis said: "The medical social worker assured me that even though I had spoken with the Immigration clerk and notwithstanding what she had to say, the baby was a medical emergency and didn't need any other documentation.'' DISCRIMINATION DIS