Mr. Speaker, the identity screening regulations were created in 2007 to support the passenger protect program. That program is an aviation security initiative designed to identify people and to protect Canadians in their travels. To accomplish this, airlines used to have to verify at the boarding gate that a passenger's name, as indicated on his or her identification, matched his or her boarding pass. However, the regulations did not specify that the airline had to also match the identification and boarding pass with the passenger.
In 2010, after an incident in which an airline allegedly did not check the identification of a passenger who was wearing a veil, the regulations were amended to explicitly require that air carriers compare and verify the physical identity of passengers against their travel documents and identifications. Air carriers are now required to screen each passenger by matching the face, date of birth and gender with that on their identification.
That said, we all know it is possible that someone's age, gender or facial characteristics do not necessarily match or resemble his or her identification. This can happen for a variety of reasons. Some are medical, some are due to aging and some are due to just regular changes in appearance that can occur. That is why we give airlines the ability to resolve any apparent discrepancies when comparing passengers with their identifications.
Unlike what is being alleged, they do not necessarily require a medical certificate to do this. For example, it is possible that a passenger's gender could appear to be different from that on their identification, but what people are deliberately not being clear about is that the airline can use other methods, methods such as questions or visual assessments, to confirm that the gender on the identification is correct and belongs to that passenger. I think we can all agree that this is simply good security. We want to make sure, essentially, that people are who they say they are. That is done by matching three things: the passport to the identification and the identification to the passenger. If those three things can be linked, there is a secure identification of the person boarding the plane.
Let me be clear. These regulations do not discriminate on the basis of gender, sexual orientation or other irrelevant characteristics. They simply seek to match the passenger to the identification and the identification to the passport so that the airlines and our transportation system can be comfortable knowing that the people getting on the plane are who they say they are.