Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, members of the committee.
My name is Les Linklater. I'm the assistant deputy minister of strategic and program policy at Citizenship and Immigration. I'm joined by my colleague, Dawn Edlund, who is the associate assistant deputy minister for operations; Peter Hill, who is the director general of enforcement at Canada Border Services Agency; and Geoff Leckey from the operations sector of the Canada Border Services Agency as well.
I would like to first thank the committee for providing CIC and CBSA with this opportunity once again to contribute to this important study.
When CIC officials last appeared to address this study, we spoke to some of the recent measures we have introduced to help safeguard the security and integrity of our immigration system.
Throughout the course of this study, concerns have been raised about two of our most significant initiatives—beyond the border, the Canada-United States Action Plan for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness, and the use of biometrics.
In recognition of some of these concerns, I would like to speak about these two initiatives in more detail. Increasing application volumes, changing travel patterns, and a growing prevalence in sophistication of identity fraud pose significant challenges to maintaining the integrity of Canada's immigration system. The perimeter action plan and the use of biometrics in the temporary resident program are important initiatives that will increase our ability to address serious security concerns. At the same time, they will enable us to further facilitate the flow of legitimate travellers and trade across our borders.
Here's how.
Next year, we will begin using biometric technology to screen visitors from certain countries who require a visa. The use of biometrics, by way of photographs and fingerprints, will bolster Canada's existing measures to reduce immigration fraud.
The reason is that biometrics will help us to prevent known criminals, failed refugee claimants and previous deportees from using a false identity to unlawfully obtain a Canadian visa and enter our country under false pretenses.
The use of biometrics will also help us to facilitate legitimate travel.
It's a key challenge for any immigration program to identify applicants accurately each time they apply. For example, names can be changed; typing errors may be made; applicants may have similar names; or people can deliberately conceal their identity. Biometrics will help us modernize our visa services and give our visa officers greater certainty to confirm the identity of legitimate travellers to Canada.
Furthermore, collecting biometric information each time a person reapplies for a visa will make it easier and faster to confirm their identity. We anticipate that the use of biometrics will therefore lead to a quicker visa issuance process.
I would like to note that the Government of Canada has no plans to collect biometrics from Canadian citizens. Also, every applicant's privacy will be protected in accordance with Canada's Privacy Act. To ensure this, CIC has been working closely with the Privacy Commissioner and her office so that adequate privacy protection safeguards are in place to protect an applicant's personal information. In fact, at each stage of development of both biometrics and perimeter action plan initiatives, CIC has recognized the need to balance the safety and security of Canadians with individual privacy rights.
For example, CIC worked closely with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner during a biometrics field trial conducted between October 2006 and April 2007. During this field trial, CIC and the Canada Border Services Agency tested the use of biometrics in Hong Kong and Seattle, and at the Vancouver International Airport, the Douglas/Pacific Highway border crossing and Toronto's refugee processing centre. The field trial demonstrated that biometric information is highly effective in confirming identity, while ensuring applicants' privacy is protected.
The use of biometrics will put Canada in line with many other countries that are now using, or preparing to use, biometrics in immigration and border management. These include the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, other countries in the European Union and Japan.
I would also like to remind the committee that the use of biometrics is not new in our immigration system. For example, CIC has collected fingerprints from refugee claimants, detainees and persons removed from Canada since 1993.
A challenge for our current immigration system is that some inadmissible individuals have been able to re-enter Canada using false identities. As I stated earlier, the use of biometrics will help prevent this scenario from happening in the future.
As part of the perimeter action plan, another screening tool we plan to implement by the spring of 2015 is the electronic travel authorization for nationals of visa-exempt countries, except for travellers from the U.S. We discussed this in the context of the review of Bill C-45 last week. As members are aware, this will establish a common Canada-U.S. approach to screening travellers prior to their departure for North America. Like the use of biometrics, this tool will help us to fulfill our goal of preventing inadmissible individuals from travelling to Canada while facilitating travel for low-risk travellers.
Once an application for an ETA has been submitted, a risk assessment will include queries against applicable databases. We anticipate that authorization will be received within minutes, in most cases, as this has been the experience already in the United States.
An important consideration is that the eTA may provide Canada with more flexibility to lift visa requirements, as it may deter inadmissible applicants from coming to Canada if they know that their information will be verified prior to travel. It is also expected to reduce the need for visas because it would focus on at-risk individuals, not countries or territories.
Also starting next year, we plan to have in place systematic biographic information sharing with the United States on immigration issues. This includes information on all temporary resident and immigration applications, inland asylum claimants, overseas resettled refugees and deportations. By 2014, we will build on this when we start sharing biometric information with the United States.
To date, we have had great success in sharing biometric information with our five country conference partners. For example, this has uncovered individuals who have used multiple identities, inconsistent immigration histories, and criminal records. This has demonstrated the value of increased information sharing, and we hope to continue this success by increasing our information sharing with the U.S.
CIC and CBSA will also share information with the U.S. on the entry and exit of travellers who cross our shared land borders. In support of this, CIC will establish a universal requirement for all individuals entering Canada to present approved travel documents.
I wish to assure the committee that Canada will retain its sovereignty in making admissibility decisions. I wish to also remind members that the U.S. will not have direct access to Canadian databases.
As with our other security measures, information sharing with the U.S. will help us to better detect fraud and improve public safety, through better detection of persons who have criminal histories or pose other risks to the public. It will also facilitate the flow of legitimate travel across our borders.
Once again, Mr. Chair, I wish to thank you for inviting me to appear today. I hope that my remarks have been helpful to the committee and I would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.
