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Ontario working on provincial ID card with Homeland Security approval June 4, 2008 Mere weeks after learning that Quebec will be producing “enhanced driver’s licences” (EDLs) by years end to cooperate with U.S. border security demands, Canadian Press reports this week that Ontario will offer similar provincial ID cards for non drivers. According to CP: “Several provinces, including Ontario, have been pushing for enhanced driver's licences to allow Canadians to cross by land or sea into the U.S. But Ontario will also develop a high-tech photo ID card for the four million residents who don't have a valid driver's licence, under legislation introduced in the legislature Tuesday.” The Ontario Liberals introduced a Photo Card Act on Tuesday that, if passed, would offer enhanced ID cards for drivers and non-drivers. These cards, which will contain citizenship and biometric information embedded in Radio Frequency Identification Chips (RFIDs) that can be read by Canadian and U.S. border agents, will allow Canadians to cross into the United States without a passport. Provincial Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said “The province is working closely with the Canada Border Services Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop the program,” according to the CP article. But “Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian has said she's apprehensive about the security of citizenship information that's stored on chips that are embedded in the cards because the information is transmitted wirelessly.” There are privacy concerns related to sharing sensitive information embedded in the new cards with U.S. authorities, who have a track record for storing piles of information on citizens with the stated goal of one day being able to “mine” that information for potential terrorist threats. Some critics claim these systems are about immigration, not terrorism, and that they are most useful at tracking and apprehending law-abiding people. Another strong critique of all these new ID cards, which are being developed in several Canadian provinces to abide by the U.S. government’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and to satisfy Security and Prosperity Partnership demands for a technological means to monitor the flow of people throughout North America, is that the Canadian EDLs will be compatible with the unpopular U.S. Real ID program. EDLs “may be an attempt to encourage us to harmonize with them,” said Federal Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart earlier this year, commenting on a joint B.C.-Washington State pilot project EDL. "We think it's unnecessary… We think it's intrusive, and we think it's a route that Canadians don't need to follow… So this is very worrisome to us as a possible model," said Stoddart.
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