U.S. no fly list mistakenly snagging dozens of Canadians
Jim Bronskill - Canadian Press VIA StopLying.ca July 21, 2006
[KDR: Why would you think that the Canadian version of the "no-fly" list would be done properly? Now there will be 2 lists of people who are not allowed to fly. That will make things work much better.
Since when did the Americans control who gets on Domestic Canadian flights?]
OTTAWA -- Dozens of Canadians have formally complained about being delayed at airports because their name -- or at least one similar to theirs -- turned up on the U.S. no-fly list.
In the last two years, Transport Canada has received "some 40 to 50 complaints'' from people whose names may have been matched to the U.S. roster, said department spokeswoman Vanessa Vermette.
In the absence of a Canadian no-fly list, domestic airlines have been screening passengers against the U.S. one, believed to include about 70,000 people.
It has resulted in at least two federal MPs -- Liberal Bill Graham and New Democrat Pat Martin -- running into security holdups at airports.
But until now there has been little indication of just how many people have been snagged because they have a name that matches one on the U.S. no-fly roster.
An Air Canada spokeswoman refused to answer questions, saying, "we do not discuss matters of security publicly.''
Canadian carriers use a variety of information sources to ensure the safety of flights and passengers, said Fred Gaspar, a vice-president with the Air Transport Association of Canada, an umbrella group for Canadian airlines.
"That may include information from foreign governments.''
Vermette, however, said Transport feels Canadian carriers "should not be using the U.S. list to screen passengers on Canadian domestic flights.''
The department has reminded Canadian airlines there is no requirement for them to do so, she added.
Vermette noted provisions of the Aeronautics Act allow the Transport minister to prevent someone who poses a threat to a flight from boarding the plane.
"That's already in place,'' she said. "So if that were to happen we would certainly take action to protect passengers.''
Documents obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act were stripped of passages dealing with the question of whether the minister has actually resorted to these powers.
"We can't provide any information about that for security reasons,'' Vermette said.
The department advises Canadian travellers who believe their name matches one on an American list to follow the redress procedures of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
Individuals must send notarized documentation confirming their identity to the U.S. agency, said TSA spokeswoman Amy Kudwa.
The TSA then determines whether the person is actually on one of two rosters it administers: the no-fly list and the selectee list, which flags passengers for additional security screening.
The TSA then sends the individual a letter telling them whether they have been added to a "cleared'' list.
Receiving cleared status should make future check-in procedures smoother, said Kudwa.
"The TSA makes every effort to assist those passengers who are experiencing delays because of mistaken identity or incorrect information.''
An average of 1,500 people seek redress from the TSA each week, she said, though the figures are not broken down by nationality.
Gaspar said airlines are looking forward to the development of a Canadian no-fly list, expected to be in place by the end of the year. "Because everybody wins once we can actually get to a point of having solid, reliable homegrown information.''
Privacy advocate Philippa Lawson said there's no excuse for Canadian carriers to be checking passengers against the U.S. list for flights within Canada in the interim.
"It's clear at this point in time that that list is terribly flawed and full of names that should not be on it. So I think it's a mistake for Canadian airlines to be using it,'' said Lawson, executive director of Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa.
"But that may be a good reason for us to get moving and get our list in place.''
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[KDR: Why would you think that the Canadian version of the "no-fly" list would be done properly? Now there will be 2 lists of people who are not allowed to fly. That will make things work much better.
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