From the CBC:
“Canada planning technological
fixes to make crossing the border faster”
Zipping through the Canada-U.S.
border in 15 seconds. Facial recognition cameras at the airport to open an
electronic gate. Sending your declaration to customs before you even get off
the plane. Those are just some of the changes in the works at the Canada Border
Services Agency (CBSA) — partly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Denis
Vinette, vice-president of the CBSA's travellers branch, said the agency had
been considering technological changes to the border — but the pandemic has
allowed it to break through "glass ceilings" that were in the way. When
COVID-19 hit, the CBSA was confronted with a challenge, Vinette said — how
could officers handle the "mounds of paper" and medical information
the Public Health Agency of Canada required travellers to present? The solution
was to move to an internet cloud environment and to develop the ArriveCan app,
he said. "ArriveCan, even though we've got low travel volumes, has been
really a game-changer," said Vinette. "It's allowed us to deal with
information required in a new way and nimble way."
The ArriveCan app also set the
stage for a new system that has been introduced already at the Toronto and
Vancouver airports. The system allows travellers returning to Canada to
voluntarily send their customs declarations to CBSA before their plane even
lands. "By the time I arrive at the airport, all I'll be doing is
confirming my identity and my arrival," Vinette said. "And CBSA and
other border authorities will have decided already whether or not we have an
interest in having an interaction with you." Once the system is rolled
out, a family returning from Disney World, for example, could send the CBSA
their advanced declaration and digital travel credentials. "When they
arrive, they come up to the kiosk, their identity is confirmed, they grab their
bags, they get into the car and then they ask themselves a question — did I
just cross the border? Did I forget to talk to the border services
officer?" Vinette said. He said the CBSA plans to expand the system to
other airports and to add the advanced declaration function to the ArriveCan
app so that travelers can submit both health and customs declarations at the
same time. The CBSA also wants to introduce the advanced declaration system for
those travelling by cruise ship and rail, and for those crossing the land
border. Vinette said that, prior to the pandemic, the CBSA had brought the
average time spent speaking with a customs officer at the land border down to
an average of 55 seconds. With the new technologies, Vinette said, the agency
hopes to bring that average time down to 15 seconds.
Facial recognition Canadians
and Americans with NEXUS trusted traveller cards have long been able to go
through customs more quickly than others. Now, the CBSA is planning to add
facial recognition to NEXUS kiosks at the airport. "You will tap
your card, it will take a picture and verify it against your passport picture
that's on file and confirm your identity and ask you one question — do you have
anything to declare above your entitlements?" said Vinette. In
Toronto and Winnipeg, e-gates have been installed which open automatically once
your identity is confirmed. Vinette predicts that, in the future,
passengers could use their mobile phones and an app like the current
pay-by-phone service to breeze through the process. "You might have
something similar where you've done everything on your phone, you've got your
digital travel credential encoded on your phone and you would just swipe your
phone," Vinette said. "It will verify that the passport, the travel
credential, the person are all the same. Gate opens."
Passengers also will still be
free to opt for the traditional way of crossing the border, or to make their
customs declarations verbally to an officer, Vinette said. Some of the
technological innovations the CBSA has in the works will be less visible to
travelers. The agency wants to increase its use of data analytics to help
officers distinguish between low-risk individuals who cross the border
frequently and those who pose a higher risk. It is also hoping that data
analytics can help it detect trends and patterns that can help officers flag
people who might be smuggling drugs or guns into Canada. The Security Screening
Automation project will replace manual searches for the immigration department
with automated searches. Meanwhile, the CBSA has been implementing its air exit
program, through which airlines provide it with information about their
passengers.
Privacy concerns Vinette
said the CBSA has been working closely with the federal privacy commissioner's
office to ensure that the technological innovations it wants to implement
respect privacy and IT security standards. Vito Pilieci, spokesperson
for the privacy commissioner's office, said they have been consulted on the
ArriveCan app and are about to begin a privacy impact review of CBSA's advance
declaration system. Pilieci said the office has been back and forth with
the CBSA about using facial biometric verification for NEXUS members and the
CBSA's increased use of data analytics. Ann Cavoukian, a former Ontario
privacy commissioner who is now executive director of the Global Privacy &
Security by Design Centre, said it is important for travellers to consent to
providing their images or information and to know how the information is going
to be used by the government. "Privacy and security have to be
embedded into all of this," she said. For example, Cavoukian said,
there is a difference between "one to one" facial recognition — where
one photo is compared with one face — and "one to many" facial
recognition systems used in places like the United Kingdom where someone's face
is compared with many other photos in a database. Cavoukian said the
information collected by the CBSA has to be stored securely, the data should be
encrypted and it should be clear whether other government departments can
access the information and the images collected. "The potential for
privacy problems is significant," Cavoukian said.
^ This system seems good
especially if you have the option to use it and be fast or use the traditional
system. ^
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/border-airports-technology-biometric-1.6323855
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