Transport Committee on May 11th, 2017

[Jennifer Sullivan]

Three to five months for a new applicant.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

If I understand the process correctly, during that waiting period of two to five months, employees can receive a temporary clearance. Is that correct?

[Jennifer Sullivan]

Yes, that is correct.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

What checks are done at that time for temporary employees? How can you make sure that an employee with a temporary clearance does not pose a risk, without confirmation from the RCMP and CSIS? How can these people be allowed to access restricted areas, even if they are accompanied?

That is what I understood about the process. That can raise certain concerns for people working at airports.

[Laureen Kinney]

Madam Chair, there are two different processes that happen at the beginning. Some of the airports carry out criminal record checks themselves to check that first level of check very quickly themselves. However, in all cases where a temporary pass is being authorized, that individual must have an escort. There are escort requirements built into regulation, and Transport Canada provides oversight of that, so there is a protection built in. Then there are rules around what the escort is responsible for doing on behalf of the people they are escorting, the number of people, and what they must do to be effective.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

About 80,000 security checks are requested each year. You must have a service in each of your sectors exclusively assigned to conducting those checks. How many employees are currently cleared to work in secure areas at airports?

[Laureen Kinney]

Right now in our databases we have 169,815 active holders of security clearances. That was effective as of May 3, 2017. Not every one of those may all be working. Some of them could be on medical leave, etc., but that's the number of people with passes in our database.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

How many temporary passes are there?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Mr. Berthold. I'm sorry, your time is up.

Maybe you could get that information for Mr. Berthold as we proceed with the meeting.

Mr. Iacono.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My question is for Mr. Oliver, from the RCMP.

How do you detect signs of radicalization among Canadians, and among airport employees in particular?

[A/Commr Joe Oliver]

Obviously, the RCMP has to operate within the mandate and the law in order to deal with investigations involving potentially radicalized individuals. In most cases that information would come to the attention of police either through proactive investigations or through information that is received from individuals within the community, in some cases it may be family members and in other cases it may be individuals who become concerned by the change in behaviour of individuals.

When that happens and that information does come to the fore, there is normally a multi-agency response in order to do an assessment on the potential risk and on what actions can be taken to mitigate those risks.

For instance, one of the initiatives of the RCMP was to establish a national security joint operation centre, which includes various partners at the federal level, so that information of potential threats that come in can be quickly assessed in a timely manner in order to determine a type of strategy. That could be a strategy that involves a full-blown criminal investigation. It could involve enhanced monitoring or surveillance of individuals. Or it may involve community-based initiatives with intervention at the local level with community partners.

In terms of specifics for individuals working in the airport environment, the RCMP doesn't monitor on an ongoing basis individuals in the airports. We have to operate within the confines of the law and we're not a police state, so often we rely on other mechanisms.

I'm aware that the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has an aviation security committee. Most police agencies are aware that individuals working in an airport require certain security clearances. If information comes to their attention that an individual poses a potential criminal or terrorist risk, that is then referred to Transport Canada which can do a reassessment of that restricted access notification card. There are also other measures that Transport Canada has in place that can help mitigate that risk.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Thank you.

What measures are in place to provide for quick and effective communication between the RCMP, Transport Canada, and the airport authorities?

[A/Commr Joe Oliver]

I can say that in areas where the RCMP is a member of the multi-agency security committee at airports, information is shared in terms of security threats and risks at airports. In cases where a threat is identified, it could be through the police of jurisdiction or it could be through the airport authority. It may even be through the aftercare process that Transport Canada has put in place. That information would go back to Transport Canada to do a reassessment and they may engage the RCMP to do a more in-depth law enforcement record check.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

My next question is for Mr. Oliver again, but also for the officials from Transport Canada.

I would like you to describe the sequence of events when a person who works at an airport is suspected of being radicalized.

[A/Commr Joe Oliver]

Again, there are a number of ways that may occur. If there is a suspicion that an individual is becoming radicalized, is radicalized, we go through our internal security process where we would try to assess that risk in a timely manner. Transport Canada would be involved in terms of re-evaluating the security clearance that they've provided. In some cases that may come directly from Transport Canada to the RCMP and we would do a new investigation around whether there's new information that has come to the attention of police from the time the initial clearance was issued to the time that a new suspicion or new concern has surfaced.

There are processes on an ongoing basis to monitor those who have Transport Canada security clearance, to initiate a review of those for cause.

[Laureen Kinney]

I would just add to that point, Madam Chair, that Transport Canada also gets individual reports. There may be concerns raised in a work environment, etc., so all of those would be passed, as Mr. Oliver mentioned.

The bottom line is that if that information comes to any of the agencies, it comes to Transport directly, and it can be an extremely quick situation. The individual director of the program has the authority to suspend those clearances while further investigation is carried out, and that is an action taken within a couple of hours.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Thank you.

Ms. Sullivan, why would you put attention on the TSC process?

[Jennifer Sullivan]

I'm sorry?

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Why put attention on the TSC process? You were talking about that in your brief remarks.

[Jennifer Sullivan]

We were just going to mention the timelines. We were initially going to say that in 2012 new clearances used to take about a month, and now we're looking at a four- to six-month delay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We move on to Monsieur Aubin.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thanks to the witnesses for being here this morning.

You know that this meeting was brought about by a slight wave of concern—not to say panic—raised by certain media reports. Reading or listening to your presentations reassures me. At the same time, they are full of turns of phrase that are unclear to me, although you no doubt understand them.

My first question is for Ms. Kinney.

You said that the transportation security clearances of employees who have access to restricted areas of the airport are checked daily. We are talking about more than 170,000 employees. What is the process? Are there two databases that are linked or is there human intervention at some point? How is it possible to check 170,000 employee files on a daily basis?

[Laureen Kinney]

There are a couple of elements involved in that, Madam Chair.

One element is that in the perpetual vetting component of the transportation security clearance, every day there is a check against criminal records to make sure that no new charges or new situations have arisen from a policing perspective. If there have been any, action may be taken either to inquire or potentially to suspend temporarily.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

If there is a new criminal charge, it will be in the police database, is that correct?

[Laureen Kinney]

Yes.