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Frequently Asked Questions : Moving Forward with Airline Passenger Assessment Provisions of the Public Safety Act, 2002

What is the Public Safety Act?

The Public Safety Act, 2002(PSA, 2002) received Royal Assent on May 6th, 2004. It is designed to improve Canada’s capacity to prevent terrorist attacks, protect citizens and respond quickly should a threat be identified.

The Public Safety Act closed legislative gaps related to transportation and national security by amending certain pre-existing Acts, including the Aeronautics Act, the Criminal Code, the Personal Information Protection and Electronics Document Act and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority Act.

How does the Public Safety Act help secure air travel?

The Act enhances the ability of the Government of Canada to provide a secure environment for air travel and allows for the collection of passenger information for the purpose of transportation and national security, while ensuring the privacy rights of Canadians are protected.

The Public Safety Act, 2002, made changes to the Aeronautics Act (including sections 4.81 and 4.82) under which the Government of Canada has the authority to request and assess information about airline passengers. This enhances the ability of government and the aviation industry to provide a safe and secure transportation environment.

What is section 4.81?

Section 4.81 specifies that the Department of Transport can request passenger information for transportation security purposes. It provides for the creation of a list of persons who may pose an immediate threat to aviation security. Airlines would be required to compare their passenger lists against this list to ensure no one on board poses a threat to the aircraft.

What is the status of the implementation of section 4.81?

The Government of Canada has been receiving input from stakeholders – including the aviation industry and privacy advocates – since May 2004 and is developing a program proposal that will be the subject of additional consultations in fall 2005. The proposal includes the development of a list of specified persons who pose an immediate threat to aviation security and should be prevented from boarding aircraft.

When do you expect it to be fully implemented?

It is expected that Transport Canada’s program will be implemented in 2006.

What is section 4.82?

Section 4.82 of the Aeronautics Act authorizes Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) officials to access air passenger information and match it against information under their control in order to identify threats to transportation and national security. Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC) is the lead federal department for section 4.82.

What is the difference between sections 4.81 and 4.82?

Section 4.81 is seen as an initial step in passenger assessment that will establish a list of persons who pose an immediate threat to aviation security, against which airlines can check their passengers.

Section 4.82 builds on section 4.81 by allowing for a more advanced technological approach to address the issue of passenger assessment. Under section 4.82, instead of airlines checking against a list, the RCMP and CSIS would have access to airline manifests and could perform the assessment electronically. If the passenger does not pose a threat to transportation or national security, the manifest and all the information contained therein would be destroyed.

What is the status of the implementation of section 4.82?

PSEPC will be undertaking a feasibility study in the coming months to look into the possibility of implementing an automated air passenger assessment system as provided for in section 4.82 of the Aeronautics Act. The study itself will be completed by Fall 2005, and will provide recommendations on a timeline for implementation.

Why is a feasibility study being undertaken on s. 4.82 and what will it be looking at?

The study is being undertaken to consider appropriate options, costs and stakeholder requirements before implementation is considered. The feasibility study will involve extensive consultations and research in order to put forth recommendations for implementation.

Who will be undertaking the s. 4.82 feasibility study?

To undertake the feasibility study, a contract is being tendered in August 2005 utilizing MERX (the Government Electronic Tendering Service). This system is competitive and will ensure the best-qualified person(s) or organization undertakes the study, at the best price for the Government and Canadians.

What will it cost the government to implement Sections 4.81 and 4.82?One of the key focal points of the consultations and the section 4.82 study will be to look at the cost of a variety of options, with varying levels of complexity. The Government of Canada will be given the opportunity to weigh the benefits and the cost of a number of different options and choose an option that best meets the needs of Canadians.

As such, it would be inappropriate to speculate now as to the outcome of these consultations.

What is the Government doing to improve the security of other modes of transportation?

Canada remains a possible target for terrorism and we need to ensure that we assess and strengthen, as necessary, all modes of transportation security, which of course includes air passenger assessment.

Canada has one of the safest transportation systems in the world.  Since 2001, the Government of Canada has announced in excess of $9 billion in specific measures to enhance Canada’s national security and address priority gaps in our system, including some$3 billion towards initiatives to further enhance overall transportation security.