Homeland Security to screen Canadians for flights over US
March 12, 2010 by Lynn Knell
Filed under Government, Safety, Travel, World news
As of December of 2010 no passenger on a Canadian airline who is flying to a US destinations, or even over US airspace enroute to another destination, will be allowed on board the aircraft until the US Department of Homeland Security has checked that person against their list of suspected terrorists and given clearance to that passenger.
The new and latest tool in the toolbox of weapons in the US’s war on terrorism is called Secure Flight (SFP) and gives the US total control over who flies and who doesn’t. Even if the flight originates in Canada or has a Canadian destination, it makes no difference.
This is a global initiative on the part of the United States Department of Homeland Security and is a part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which was passed in 2004 by Congress but has not, until now, been acted upon.
Canada has no say in this program, since our own government has given the authority to the Department of Homeland Security to decide who flies and who stays. Our Parliament has never even discussed, let alone adopted, the plan even though our own citizens are severely affected by the Secure Flight program. Unlike our own government, the European Parliament has consistently objected to the Secure Flight plan.
According to an article in the March 3, 2010 Montreal Gazette, Transport Canada, which is in charge of Canadian airlines, shuffled the responsibility on to Public Safety Canada, when questioned about the new SFP. Public Safety Canada, in turn, refused to comment on Secure Flight, saying that Canada works with the US as well as other countries, to ensure safety and security. Stephen Harper’s spokesperson also refused to talk about it.
Up to this point, all Canadian airlines have been checking their passenger lists against an FBI no-fly list, containing about 16,000 names of suspected terrorists. The US refuses to give reasons for these particular names being on the list, pleading ‘national security’.
Horror stories abound about people who have been denied flights and publicly humiliated at airports around the nation. One particular story, which has been on Youtube, is that of a small boy of about 4 or 6 years, who is always detained and searched whenever he flies with his parents because he has the same name as a suspected terrorist. The US claims that this program will reduce the number of errors such as this, although their reasoning is not at all clear.
From December, all Canadian airlines must transfer the personal information of travelers on their flights 72 hours before take-off. A group of 50 “identity resolution” mathematical formulas called algorithms will be used to check identities against databases from intelligence, law enforcement, terrorist and government sources such as the FBI, Homeland Security, US Defense Department and the National Counter Terrorism Centre. Even the US General Accounting Office is concerned that this new program will be fraught with problems, resulting in more, rather than fewer errors and mistaken identities.
If the passenger comes up clean, all his personal information collected will be erased from the system after 7 days. If there is a ‘potential match’, meaning the passenger is not a perfect match but matches in some of the categories, the information would be retained for 7 years and then be removed from the system. A positive match means that information would be kept for 99 years. This vetting process determines whether a passenger is given a boarding card, required to undergo further screening, or is prohibited from travelling, likely for the rest of his life.
Although the news has come as a shock to Canadians, the Federal Government has, as early as November of 2007, been urging the US to exempt all Canadian flights over US airspace. At that time, the Honorable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, said, “The Government of Canada is concerned about the implications of the U.S. proposed Secure Flight Program; and we are working hard to find a solution”.
In December of last year, the Air Transport Association of Canada made their grievances known to Homeland Security. “… the submission of Canadian passengers’ details by Canadian airlines violates Canada’s laws on the protection of personal information and electronic documents, as well as laws on aeronautics,” the ATA stated.
One section of the plan has angered many Canadian civil liberties organizations. The information required to be produced to the United States Transportation Security Administration includes a passenger’s passport and travel itinerary three days before any flight goes through American airspace. “The Americans will have a veto on every passenger that gets on a plane in Canada, even if they are not going to set foot on American soil,” said Roch Tassé, co-ordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group. He is also concerned because Secure Flight Plan essentially cedes control over Canada’s Immigration, over refugee seekers and even diplomacy. “What will happen if Canada invites the ambassador from a country such as Cuba?”, continued Mr. Tasse. He believes that the SFP is nothing short of a forced harmonisation of Canadian visa policies with respect to the Americans.
Benoît Gagnon, head of the Security, Identity and Technology Research Chair of Canada underlines that “the SFP is the next in a long line of information gathering programs. Little by little, we are letting the United States run our security.” Gagnon said. “It is too early to tell what kind of an impact these developments will have on Canadian sovereignty”.
Related links:
• http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/which+Canadians/2638494/story.html#ixzz0hiseQxRo
• http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/mediaroom/releases-nat-2007-07-h219e-4476.htm
