Transport Committee on Nov. 9th, 2006

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, gentlemen, for coming today.

In your expert opinion, how does the security at Trudeau airport stand up against other airports like Calgary or Edmonton? They're both constantly growing airports, basically handling a lot of traffic to the U.S. How would you say that Trudeau compares to one or both of them?

[Jacques Duchesneau]

I don't think my colleague is in a good position to answer that, but I've always said, ever since the story broke, that it was kind of unfair to have ADM get a beating the way it did, because it is a very good organization. We work pretty well with other airports across the country, and I don't want to diminish the quality of other airports, because that would not be fair.

In all airports, really, we work in cooperation and we've enhanced the quality of service. You really need to benchmark with other countries. When we do that, I think we should have our chins up.

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Mr. Duchesneau, I think this next question is for you as well. In the aftermath of 9/11, new measures were implemented at airports to basically increase police presence. With the Government of Canada, through CATSA, the government basically committed to assisting selected airports with these additional costs. So there are two questions here.

Would you be able to tell the committee which airports CATSA will be assisting with these additional costs? Second, what were the criteria you used for these particular airports to receive additional police presence and upgraded security?

[Jacques Duchesneau]

I'll start the answer and I'll ask my chief operating officer to give you the details.

All class I airports--those would be Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax--and class II airports--

[Mark Duncan, Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority]

There are four class II airports that also have, basically, part-time police presence, so they have police presence during the peak hours, for example. But class I airports have a five-minute type of response to the screening point.

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

For my information, which are the four class II airports?

[Mark Duncan]

Those are Kelowna, London...and I'm just going to have to--

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

That's fine, if you don't have it right there.

[Mark Duncan]

I'll get it in a second.

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Certainly.

As to the other part of that question, what criteria were used to decide on these, just basically that, the fact that they were rated either class I or class II?

[Jacques Duchesneau]

For class I, there is a regulation that we need an armed presence and a response time of less than five minutes to intervene if there is an emergency. For class II, it's roughly the same thing. But once again, on regulation, Mr. Duncan is the expert, and I will let him respond.

[Mark Duncan]

Yes, there was a risk assessment done at the time, based on traffic volume--U.S. traffic, for example. Basically, a risk assessment was done at those airports, and those were the ones chosen.

There are 29 major airports in Canada that are class I and class II, but obviously the same level of security would vary, depending again on the volume.

Just taking Kelowna as an example, it exceeds one million passengers right now. Even though it's a class II airport, it's almost as large as some of the class I airports. So there are a number of criteria, which we work out with Transport Canada, and obviously it has to adjust, depending on the threats.

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Okay, but it basically comes down to the traffic flow through there. Thank you.

The next question will be for Mr. Cherry. I see that your organization employs an airport patrol force, which you talked about, and it's one of only seven airport forces to receive accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.

I have three questions on this, and I'll just give them all to you and you can answer. First, would you be able to elaborate on the capabilities of this patrol force in terms of dealing with security threats at the airport? Second, are there any jurisdictional disputes between this force and other police forces that are responsible for the same area? And third, could you elaborate on what sort of training and skills are required for this patrol force to basically receive this type of accreditation?

[James Cherry]

Sure. First of all, the main responsibilities are listed in the document that I have here. I'm just looking through it now.

They are responsible, for the most part, for the patrol of the perimeter and the application of all the rules with respect to the movement of traffic at the airport as well, in terms of the car traffic and truck traffic. They are responsible, as well, for the detection of explosives and to alert.

They're also responsible for the issuance of the airside passes once the people have met the criteria of Transport Canada. We have the responsibility to search all employees or to screen all employees who are going into the restricted areas of the airport.

They're also responsible for putting in place the plans and emergency procedures for any sort of emergency.

There are in fact no jurisdictional disputes right now. They are the first responder for any activity that happens at the airport, but they will call in--depending on the nature of the item--the Montreal police, or the RCMP, depending on the issue. They dial 9-1-1, like any other citizen, and bring the police forces to bear.

There are no jurisdictional disputes. We have regular meetings with all the people responsible for the various law enforcement rules at the airport. Their efforts are coordinated regularly, and the cooperation level is very high.

In fact, we also have what we call un poste de quartier, a neighbourhood station, of the Montreal police force at the airport. So they're actually present in the airport. Normand can give you the exact details of how many officers are there at any point in time.

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

That's not necessary.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Don Bell]

If you've briefed the answer, that's time, and we'll come back.

Did that answer your question?

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Yes.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Don Bell]

Before going around again, is there anyone else? Mr. Jean.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm quite interested in the biometrics that are going to be established in the 29 major airports. I'm wondering if you could expand on that.

First of all, I've taken it upon myself to find some information on some biometrics that are available. For instance, in the Orlando airport, Clear in particular has some information that I've received and I found it quite interesting.

But I'm wondering, what kind of biometrics? Are they iris-based or fingerprints, and if so, is there a recorded entry system? Is there video monitoring of entries? How do you monitor the new biometric systems?

[Jacques Duchesneau]

Mr. Chair, I'd ask Mr. McGarr to give the answer to this. I'm not a technology whiz. He is better than I am.

[Kevin McGarr]

If I may, Mr. Chair, on the biometric technologies that we are currently using, there are two included on the restricted area identification card. The first is a fingerprint biometric. We selected a pattern-based fingerprint technology that is developed by Bioscrypt. The second technology contained in the card is the iris identification. The patent for that technology is held by Iridian Technologies. The choice of the fingerprint was based on performance in international testing. Bioscrypt was found to be the best in false positives, the fastest, and the most effective. Those are the two technologies that we have used in the card.

As for complementary access control for the actual biometric authentication, we do synchronize that process with the legacy access control systems that are owned and operated by the airport authorities. We have integrated this biometric verification with the automated access rights afforded to non-passengers by the airport authority.

We have also, in the case of one of the airports in Kelowna, enhanced this ability through the introduction of a mantrap type of device that is developed in Canada by ADT using a technology developed by Newton Security Inc. The person enters the area to authenticate the biometric. Once the authentication is done and there is a match between the biometric template stored in the card and the live sample provided by the non-passenger, there is then a scan of the area done to ensure that there is only one person present in that area. And at that point, the exit door is unlocked and the non-passenger can access the restricted area. That also is backed up by a video surveillance system.

In all other instances, the airport authority has a guard on site to ensure that there is nobody tailgating or allowing an unauthorized person to gain access. It is a technology that is used in partnership with the airport authority and it is integrated with their existing legacy access control systems.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Are these at all security entrances, or at all secure entrances? I understand there are two different types of entrances, or areas, in most airports: one area where only restricted personnel or unrestricted personnel with a guide, in essence, are allowed, and other places where some are allowed.

[Kevin McGarr]

These readers are currently being placed at all the access points that are designated by the airport authority to allow access to the restricted area within the air terminal building.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Thank you.

Those are all my questions, Mr. Bell.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Don Bell]

Thank you.

Is there anyone else? That's it.

I just have one quick question myself. Mr. Duncan had a heads-up on this.

I was at the Air Transport Association conference in Victoria. This is not related directly to security, but it's an issue within the areas you're responsible for, Mr. Duchesneau and Mr. Duncan. I will ask the question, maybe.

On the control of the number of pieces of luggage, I had an experience in which a CATSA employee questioned how many pieces of luggage I was bringing through the screening process. My understanding is that this is not your responsibility. That's up to the airline. Am I wrong?