Canada’s No-Fly List Takes Effect
Posted June 18, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A federal “no-fly” list takes effect at airports across the country Monday, and though it’s being touted as a safety measure critics worry that it could end up targeting innocent people.
The so-called Specified Persons List, first announced last fall, provides airlines flying in and out of Canada with names, gender, and birthdates of anyone deemed to pose a security threat. Airlines would screen all passengers to make sure they’re not on the list before issuing boarding passes. They would also need to confirm that everyone 18 or older possessed either one piece of photo identification or two pieces of non-photo ID. Those appearing to be 12 or older would also need to hold one or more pieces of valid ID – anything from a health card or birth certificate to a social insurance card.
The no-fly list has raised concerns from a number of groups including politicians, human rights activists and airlines. “The situation could be very tense,” warned Air Canada’s security director Yves Duguay of the potential for confrontations between barred individuals and airline staff. “We want to make sure that we have a police presence.”
Toronto lawyer Faisal Kutty complains the list could end up including innocent people. “Common sense should make us wonder how someone can be too guilty to fly and yet be too innocent to be charged,” said Kutty, who adds, “The no-fly list will threaten many basic rights and leave little practical recourse.”
Anyone who does challenge their presence on the list can apply to Transport Canada’s Office of Reconsideration through email by contacting reconsideration-reexamen@tc.gc.ca or by calling 1-866-651-3078. If that doesn’t work people can appeal to the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the RCMP Public Complaints Commission or the Canadian Human Rights Commission. It’s also possible to request a federal judicial review.
The Canadian list is believed to contain less than 1,000 names, compared to the U.S. version which at one point had as many as 70,000 names.
