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Transport Canada Moving 'Aggressively' on Security Recommendations: Day

Posted on: Monday, 12 February 2007, 15:00 CST

By MARIA BABBAGE

TORONTO (CP) - Transport Canada is moving "aggressively" on a report from the global aviation authority that calls for beefed up air security through improved cargo screening and better training programs, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Monday.

"Already, some (recommendations) are in motion and Transport Canada has indicated they want to move ahead on all of those," Day said at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, where he helped roll out the next phase of the cross-border NEXUS program.

Day's comments follow a published report that revealed portions of confidential audit handed to Transport Canada by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency based in Montreal.

A heavily edited copy of the September 2005 report, obtained by The Canadian Press, notes that although certain measures are already in place for cargo security, Canada should further develop security controls.

The audit team reviewed a range of security-related issues concerning airports, including passengers, baggage, in-flight measures, cargo and catering services.

As part of the exercise, the reviewers studied operations at Pearson, the country's busiest airport.

While portions of report were withheld under the Access to Information Act, the sections made available show that auditors found some training programs, such as those for aircraft operators and cargo-handling companies, were "not comprehensive and/or fully developed."

The audit also found that there were no written requirements to have secure storage areas for mishandled baggage at airports.

Transport Canada has called the report "a valuable tool."

The report echoes the recent concerns of an advisory panel struck by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, a federal agency created after 9-11 to make the air travel safer.

The panel recommended Transport Canada "accelerate its work" to develop a program for the security screening of aviation cargo.

Air security has been a major preoccupation for policy-makers since terrorists hijacked passenger jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001.

Currently, Canadians flying to the United States must carry a valid passport or hold one of the special NEXUS cards reserved for frequent travellers.

A NEXUS enrolment centre and self-serve kiosks, which can identify and verify travellers in the program using iris-recognition technology, are now operational at the Toronto airport.

The program, which is also available in Vancouver, will soon expand to six other airports, including Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax.

More than 115,000 members of the program will be able to skip the primary inspection lines at the airport and go straight to the kiosks, Day said Monday.

The pre-approval program, which costs $80 and requires that travellers pass an evaluation process which includes security checks that take between four to six weeks, is already in use at land and sea border crossings.

The recent surge in Canadian passport applications - about 31 per cent more in December from the same month a year ago - will likely happen again once passports are required for all land and sea travellers to the U.S., which is expected to be implemented by June 2009, Day said.

But Day added he's had "some success" in negotiating with U.S. officials to delay the implementation of that date, although "nothing's been announced."

Day said he will be meeting with Michael Chertoff, the U.S. secretary of homeland security, at the end of this month to discuss the issue.

Source: Canadian Press

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