Travel to US is no longer as easy as it was earlier. In order to ensure secure border travel to the US, Canadians now need to carry travel documents with their DNA, biometrics or other biological identifiers, according to a new white paper to be revealed to government officials in Ottawa on Monday.
Government executives and policy guideline experts from the U.S. Embassy, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Canada Border Services Agency will discuss the paper. The paper, a part of the foundation that administers the Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program, released to CanWest News Service by the Network on North American Studies in Canada, examines the issues and challenges concerned with beefing up border security and requirements for enhanced travel documents. The recent step by the US is a further enhancement of its earlier rule that requires Canadian air travelers to show a passport before they are allowed to fly into the U.S.
But now as per the new rules, Canadians will also have to show passports at land-crossings. The original deadline for the rule to come into force was set for January 2009, but officials from both countries have been pushing for an extension.
According to Gayle Nix, executive director, Accenture, a global management consulting firm who will moderate the panel discussion,
It is likely that there will be some form of biometrically enabled identifier or credential that individuals will carry.
Michael Hawes, who will present the paper as executive director of the Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the USA, says,
We need to face the fact that there are some difficult challenges and that we need to address those challenges and we need to use whatever tools are most appropriate in a democratic society to make those decisions and to move forward.
Hawes believes that the paper undoubtedly directs governments to consider developing partnerships with the private sector to facilitate implementation of new technologies at border crossings.
However, it is likely to stir a controversy about private rights of an individual if his biological information contained on travel documents is revealed to a government database.
The governments of the U.S., Canada and Mexico must seriously consider the impact the proposed rules will have on their particular countries and work to ensure they can be implemented to prevent grave problems.
Via:Canada
