SUSAN DELACOURT
OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF, Toronto Star

OTTAWA — The federal government has moved a major step closer to making all Canadian passports contain biometric technology, similar to the identifying information to be contained in the new U.S. passcard system.

The move comes just a week before Prime Minister Stephen Harper is to meet U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington -- a meeting that will almost certainly include a progress report on where the two countries stand regarding a looming passport crackdown in the U.S.

The latest issue of the Canada Gazette, the government's official notice paper, contains several proposed changes to the formal rules governing passports, including two specific provisions for biometric data.

"Passport Canada may convert any information submitted by an applicant into a digital biometric format for the purpose of inserting that information into a passport or for other uses," says one proposed change.

"Passport Canada may convert an applicant's photograph into a biometric template for the purpose of verifying the applicant's identity, including nationality, and entitlement to obtain or remain in possession of a passport," says another.

Passport Canada officials confirmed yesterday that this is a big step toward a large-scale debut of biometrics — the technology that allows citizens to be identified by physical characteristics, which is increasingly becoming a part of many countries' national ID systems.

In Canada's case, the biometrics will be facial-recognition technology, according to Passport Canada spokesperson Francine Charbonneau.

"There is no timeline yet. There's not even a ballpark figure of the timeline," she said. "But it is a good sign that we have the modification.... It's a big step."

Biometrics aren't without controversy — some experts and advocates fear that the technology could lead to infringements on citizens' basic privacy rights. A few years ago, Canada's privacy commissioner ruled out the adoption of a national, biometric ID system, arguing it wasn't worth the cost or bureaucracy.

The current privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, still has concerns, too, and promises to monitor any adoption of this system for abuses.

"Biometrics can be used and misused. When properly handled, biometrics can offer strong authentication and can actually enhance individuals' privacy and control of their own identity. Misused, of course, biometrics can lead to undesirable privacy invasions," Anne-Marie Hayden, a spokesperson for the commissioner, said yesterday.

"Collecting biometric information about individuals raises obvious and significant privacy concerns. It engages bodily and informational aspects of privacy; it doesn't just involve the collection of information about a person, but rather, information of the person. It's really the ultimate in personal information."

But the age of mandatory biometrics appears to be at hand.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2007, unless a legislative delay can be found, the U.S. will require all air and sea travellers to produce a passport or "passport-like" document, such as a biometric ID card. A year later, that requirement will also be enforced at road borders.

Harper has ruled out the adoption of a cheaper passport alternative in Canada. Instead, it seems, his government is moving toward making Canadian passports compatible with the kind of biometric technology to be contained in the new, U.S. passcards.

The presence of biometric passport data also would put Canada in line with recommendations from the International Civil Aviation Organization, which in May 2003 adopted a blueprint toward putting biometric technology in all passports and machine-readable travel documents.

Canada's privacy commissioner has said her main worries revolve around two potential abuses of the biometric passport technology. One is called "skimming," when a device is used to read the material surreptitiously, such as when the passport is in someone's pocket. The other is electronic "eavesdropping," when someone intercepts and reads the transmission between the chip in the passport and the passport-reading technology.