At the request of Denis Coderre, the Canadian Minister for Citizenship and Immigration, the House of Commons Committee on Citizenship and Immigration is examining the possibility of a secure national identity card for Canadians. The minister has made it very clear that he himself is in favour of a Canadian national ID card that would use some type of biometrics, such as an iris scan, facial recognition or fingerprints.
The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration seems to have two major reasons for the intensified interest by the federal government in a secure national ID card for Canadians: an increasing demand for a secure identity document for international travellers, especially to meet changing and more stringent requirements from the U.S. Government growing concern over rapid increases in identity theft in Canada
The House of Commons Citizenship and Immigration Committee has asked for comments on a range of questions related to the possibility of national ID cards in Canada. Some of the items on their list are: what are the problems with current Canadian identity documents? which levels of government in Canada would be responsible for a new national ID card? should a Canadian national ID card be mandatory or voluntary? what personal information and which secure technologies should be used for national ID cards?
Still at the preliminary discussion stage.
The most vocal supporter of a secure Canadian national ID card using biometrics is the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Some of the reasons the minister gives are: Canada needs a national identity system. Right now the federal government issues citizenship and immigration documents and the provincial and territory governments issue birth and death certificates. a national ID card is just a tool that lets people prove they are who they say they are a national ID card is an important element of both personal and collective security a secure national ID card would help prevent identity theft it would improve the integrity of Canadian travel documents
Objections to the introduction of a national ID card include: Canadian Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski sees a secure national ID card as part of a recent Canadian federal government trend to intrude on the privacy of Canadians. Radwanski also points out that a national ID card would be useless as an anti-terrorist device, since anyone would be able to get one, and those on short visits to Canada would not need to get one. Some technology experts say that there is absolutely nothing secure about biometric ID cards unless the papers required to get them are equally secure. Morris Manning, a Canadian constitutional lawyer, says a biometric ID card could violate the Charter of Rights. Many are concerned about the costs, especially after huge cost overruns with existing federal government databases, the most recent example being the gun registry. There is also concern that a national ID card could lead to racial profiling.
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