Evidence of meeting #21 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was information.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Vice-President, Operations Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
That's a correct statement. With the electronic travel approval, we will actually have the ability to decide if a citizen can proceed with purchasing a ticket. Then after, if the visitor were to board the plane, we'll have another system whereby we'll inform the airline to board or not board that individual. That will obviously allow us to prevent people from coming to Canada who normally right now can come to Canada, and thus we end up being into the removal process if all the steps are followed that way.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
If I could pick up just on that last concept, the proposal to develop an electronic travel system, if I understand that, would allow you to prevent a person from purchasing a ticket and actually arriving in Canada, where they would currently and right now come to a port of entry. Is that right?
Are you saying that currently, at the port of entry where we have CBSA officials, those people are slipping through now?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
What we see now is that there are two broad approaches to managing access. The first is the visa, which CIC administers for a number of countries around the world. That is our first contact with the visitor who plans to come to Canada. As Mr. Sabourin was saying, the vast majority of visitors to Canada come from countries that are visa exempt, so the first contact a Government of Canada official has with them is with the border services officer at the port of entry.
What the electronic travel authority will do—and this is a system that Australia has used for a number of years, and the United States has also successfully put in place—is that when a traveller goes to buy a ticket, the information on that traveller is sent to the government, and the government would then run checks against databases they have to determine whether or not—
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Mr. Linklater, if I may, my point is this. Isn't that same check and that same information given at the port of entry now? Why is that check not being done now when they land at the CBSA officer's desk at the airport?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
The idea with the ETA is to do that offshore, so that before the individuals actually get to a port of entry and then have access to Canada to make a refugee claim, all of this checking would be done as they buy their ticket. As Mr. Sabourin says, if okay, they are allowed to proceed to the airport.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
I understand, Mr. Linklater, exactly what you are proposing. It's a question of your doing the check before the individuals come here. I want to just clarify that you're not worried that the individuals, when they come to our airport, are actually slipping through the CBSA officer's watch. Is the real concern to make sure they don't make a refugee claim, or is the concern that you want to do it offshore because you fear that if the individuals come to the CBSA officer's wicket at an airport, they are actually going to get through that? That's not the concern?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
No.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
The real concern, then, is to prevent a refugee claim. Is that right?
Vice-President, Operations Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
Just to add another layer of risk management here, when the planes leave foreign countries and are on their way to Canada, we currently have a system, which is called advanced passenger information, whereby we know who is on the plane. That is checked, for security reasons, into a number of databases. Then, by knowing if there are people who we want to interview more closely, the officer at the primary booth will know that, and the person will be referred to secondary, where an interview occurs.
I just want to clarify; that exists right now.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you. So what is the advantage of the electronic travel authority doing that before they ever get on the plane? What is the benefit we get from that?
Vice-President, Operations Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
Right now, we get the information “wheels up”, as we say, which means they are already on the plane on their way to Canada. With the ETA system, we will have the ability to inform the airline, before the flight has left, to not board that passenger.
Vice-President, Operations Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
There are security advantages: people who would be deemed inadmissible would not be coming to the country. There are also advantages from a refugee perspective, which is that we will get fewer refugee claims.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
You talked about the entrance/exit system. I think you clarified, Mr. Sabourin, that the exit controls you are talking about are really to the United States. By sharing information with the United States, when a person in Canada exits to go to the United States, because the U.S. will share that information with us, we will know the person has left Canada. Is that correct?
Vice-President, Operations Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
That's correct.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
What about people in our country who are exiting Canada to countries other than the United States? Will we know they have left Canada?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Maybe I can just clarify that point. As we look at the broader, longer-term approach for entry and exit information systems—
NDP
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
No. Our first priority is, as Mr. Sabourin says, to share information with the United States at the land border. But the way we are developing the system is to allow for the eventual expansion to the air mode, which would then cover the scenario you described over time as resources become available and as the system is tested.
