Business and Government in Canada by Jeffrey Roy

Author:Jeffrey Roy [Roy, Jeffrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Canada, Political Science, American Government, History, General
ISBN: 9780776606583
Google: dUteJOqOGOwC
Goodreads: 9090052
Publisher: University of Ottawa Press
Published: 2007-01-15T06:52:18+00:00

Table 2: Digital Confidence

BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION AND RFID

These various currents underscore the necessity of interoperability and interdependence on the one hand and the present realities of governing in a more independent manner on the other. Since the former set of pressures can be expected to continually intensify, in a manner intertwined with economic integration, how the Canadian polity responds is an important question for both individual citizens and businesses. An equally important question, however, is whether the Canadian response is merely a reaction to US pressure or a genuine attempt to rethink both domestic and continental mechanisms for reconciling identity and interoperability issues into the foreseeable future.

Concerns about the Patriot Act have done little as yet to quell cross-border traffic and the desire of companies and citizens from Canada to seek US access, but pressures are intensifying for more integrative action across the two countries. The first barrier erected in the post-9/11 environment to this relative free flow of individuals (at least pertaining to leisure travel, as professional and employment restrictions are more varied and common) focused on Canadian landed immigrants. Beginning in March 2003, landed immigrants in Canada from many countries faced new visa restrictions. Subsequently, in April 2005, the US government announced that, by the end of 2007, Canadians entering the United States will require a passport or a like-minded form of “secure identifier.” Although the transition period is regarded as a cushion to soften the blow of this important change (in 2002, roughly one-quarter of all Canadians held a valid passport), its significance is profound.

Ironically, this policy change was announced just a few weeks after the release of a trilateral North American study (under the auspices of the US-based Council on Foreign Relations) that argues for the formation of a continental security perimeter as well as a set of institutions to forge the sort of North American “community” that might one day lead to less restricted mobility within the continental perimeter along with some form of standardized identification to facilitate such openness while preserving security.

These questions converge around the sensitive issue of whether Canada will introduce a new identification card, either through or parallel to beefed-up passports that make use of biometric devices and new technological standards (Roy 2006c). By the end of 2005, at least four European countries (Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and Norway) had begun implementing biometrically enabled passports, with many other countries, including the United Kingdom, having already tabled their intentions to follow suit.

The EU framework for passports and travel documents has been an important enabler, as have standards endorsed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Although pressure to adapt to new US entry requirements is clearly one factor motivating these actions of European countries (notwithstanding the fact that the US federal government has not kept pace with its own technological upgrading of passports), another factor is a broader digital governance strategy at both domestic and European levels that includes both service and security aims.

Biometric tools that embed a unique physical or genetic trait (e.g.,

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