CAUT | ACPPU
Canadian Association of University Teachers
| Perimeter agreement raises privacy and civil liberties concerns |
| (Thursday, December 08, 2011)
- The Canadian Association of University Teachers is warning the new Canada-U.S. Perimeter, Security and Economic Competitiveness Agreement announced yesterday poses serious risks to the privacy rights and civil liberties of Canadians. “The agreement will see the creation of a vast database of information that will allow authorities on both sides of the border to track Canadians when they leave the country, to follow where they are travelling, and to identify who they are travelling with,” said CAUT executive director James Turk. “This amounts to an unprecedented transfer of enormous amounts of personal information about Canadians to U.S. authorities.” Under the agreement, the Government of Canada will require airlines to provide passenger lists for all flights leaving the country, and will share these lists with U.S. officials. Canada has also agreed to increase the screening of foreign visitors, even requiring those from countries who currently do no need a visa to fill out a new form to be shared with authorities in the United States. New tracking measures will also be put in place at land borders where authorities will begin first by collecting information on foreign visitors and landed immigrants, and then by 2014 tracking all citizens crossing the border. “Canada will have absolutely no control over how this information will be used by American authorities,” Turk warned. “Given the recent history of innocent people singled out as security threats by the U.S., Canadians have good reason to be very concerned.” CAUT is calling on the Government of Canada to modify the agreement so that the privacy rights and civil liberties of Canadians are not put at risk. |
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