Transport Security

Canada responds to airport security breach

By Alice Kok | 1 April 2009

Canada’s Transport Minister John Baird vowed that, within 10 days, a security breach identified yesterday by Auditor-General Sheila Fraser will be closed, saying it’s unacceptable that his department and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are not sharing information when it comes to clearing employees at Canada’s airports.

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Yesterday’s audit report found that a security pass was approved for a criminal convicted of weapons and assault charges who was under investigation for murder tied to drug smuggling at a large airport.

“It’s not acceptable,” Baird says. “Security has got to be a top priority. If you’re a convicted felon involved in a drug crime, you shouldn’t be working at an airport.”

The Auditor-General noted that an agreement on sharing information between the RCMP and Transport Canada expired in 2007 and has yet to be renewed.

Fraser’s auditors reported that Transport Canada is holding back information from the RCMP because of privacy concerns, while the RCMP holds back information from Transport Canada out of fear the department will pass it on to the individuals turned down for security clearance.

Baird said he’s giving the RCMP and Transport Canada 10 days to strike an arrangement on sharing information.

“If we don’t have one within 10 days, I’m going to get our two teams together in my boardroom and am not going to allow them to go out until it is successfully concluded,” he said.

The report follows up on recommendations from past Auditor-General audits of national security in 2003 and 2004. While overall progress was deemed satisfactory, the continuing gaps identified - regarding screening of airport employees and sharing information between agencies - come more than two decades after the Air India bombing, the largest terrorist attack in Canadian history.

This year’s follow-up report calls for more oversight of the various agencies and departments collecting information for national security reasons. The report notes that the federal government is waiting to see the recommendations of the public inquiry into the Air India bombing, which is expected to be released shortly.

Gaps in information sharing on national security between the RCMP, CSIS and Foreign Affairs were a common theme in the inquiry hearings, and its report is expected to recommend a new oversight regime for national security.

Fraser’s report also notes that the seven main federal departments and agencies with security responsibilities have various levels of oversight - while some have none at all.

For instance, the Department of National Defence “has created one of the largest intelligence capabilities in the government” under the heading of Chief of Defence Intelligence, yet there is no civilian oversight to ensure this secret activity complies with Canadian law.