Home Newsroom 2005 News releases (archive) 2005-08-05: Air passenger assessment 2005-08-05: Public Safety Act

Implementation of the Public Safety Act, 2002

The Public Safety Act, 2002 received royal assent on May 6, 2004. It amended the Aeronautics Act to grant the Government of Canada the authority to request and use passenger information to protect the security of the country and its aviation system. Important safeguards, such as restricted access to information, limited retention periods for information and annual reviews of retained information have been included in the legislation to protect the privacy rights of Canadians and to ensure transparency and accountability.

Sections 4.81 and 4.82 of the Aeronautics Act specify what type of passenger information could be requested by Transport Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) or the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) for transportation or national security purposes. Passenger information that may be requested from air carriers includes: a person’s name; date of birth; gender; citizenship or nationality; flight number; and passport number.

The legislation applies to any aircraft taking off in Canada and any Canadian registered aircraft departing from anywhere in the world. Section 4.76 of the act also authorizes the Minister of Transport to prevent a person who poses an immediate threat to aviation security from boarding aircraft.

The government is proceeding with a two-track approach to implement sections 4.81 and 4.82 of the Aeronautics Act to carefully address the complex issues of passenger assessment in a balanced and measured way.

The first track has Transport Canada leading the development of a passenger assessment program, and working in collaboration with Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada , the RCMP, CSIS and the Canada Border Services Agency to implement sections 4.81 and 4.76 of the Aeronautics Act. These sections specify that Transport Canada can request passenger information for national and transportation security purposes and prevent persons who pose an immediate threat to aviation security from flying.

In addition to providing an added layer of security to our aviation system and enhancing public safety while protecting the privacy rights of individuals, this program will lay the foundation for future initiatives that will use a more advanced technological approach to passenger assessment.

The federal government has been consulting with stakeholders since May 2004 and is developing a program proposal that will be the subject of additional consultations in summer and fall 2005. It is expected that the program will be implemented in 2006.

The second track has the Government of Canada looking at a longer-term approach to address the issue of passenger assessment. Section 4.82 of the Aeronautics Act authorizes RCMP and CSIS officials to access air passenger information and match it against information under their control to identify threats to transportation security and national security. This builds on Section 4.81 of the act, which provides for the creation of a specified persons list. Section 4.82 shifts the onus of assessing airline passenger information from the airline industry to the Government of Canada.

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada will commission a feasibility study to look at the possibility of implementing an advanced automated air passenger assessment system as provided for in Section 4.82 of the Aeronautics Act.

Through the feasibility study, the government will be reviewing a wide range of passenger assessment systems against Canada’s needs. This study will involve close consultation with a wide range of stakeholders — including air carriers and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner — and will put forward recommendations that balance their interests with the need to enhance aviation security and respect Canadian legislative and privacy requirements. The study will be completed by fall 2005 and will provide recommendations on a timeline for implementation.

With this information, the Government of Canada will be better equipped to make more informed decisions on how we approach Canada’s passenger assessment.