The federal government is expanding biometric screening to all foreign travellers entering Canada who require a visa.

At an event in Toronto on Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced more than $300 million over five years to expand the use of biometric screening at Canadian borders.

Foreign travellers from nearly 30 countries are already required to undergo biometric security checks. But as CTV News reported on Wednesday, the policy change will see an additional 148 nations added to the list.

Once the updated laws and regulations are in effect, Harper said biometric screening will be expanded to:

  • All foreign nationals, excluding U.S. citizens, who are applying for a work or study permit
  • Those seeking temporary or permanent residency in Canada

The initiative will be rolled out jointly by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the RCMP, the Canada Border Services Agency, and Shared Services Canada. It is expected to be in place by 2018-2019.

“This financing will greatly increase our capacity to verify of all foreign travellers entering Canada on a visa,” Harper said. “We’ll make sure people are who they say they are.”

Biometrics can involve a series of physiological measures, including fingerprinting, facial recognition, hand geometry, iris recognition, and retinal scans.

The screenings will take place before a person enters Canada, and will only apply to foreign nationals who require visas to visit Canada.

Biometric information has been collected by a number of Canada’s allies, including the United States, New Zealand and Australia.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair was quick to criticize the policy change, saying it’s a “good way of shutting the door” to many people visiting Canada.

“Unless there’s a demonstrated need, and we haven’t seen the demonstration of that need from the government, we’re forced to conclude that this has everything to do the upcoming election and very little to do with the safety of Canadians,” Mulcair said.

Privacy concerns

NDP MP Randall Garrison asked Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander in question period whether the data will be shared with security agencies in the United States.

Alexander said the privacy commissioner was consulted and the government has accepted all of his recommendations. He did not say whether the data would be shared.

“These are necessary measures to protect Canada from threats like terrorism and we know very well the NDP doesn’t want to do anything about this,” Alexander added.

Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien later held a press conference where he called the new biometric measures “worrisome.”

“The information is extremely sensitive and we need to be concerned about the risk for breaches,” Therrien told reporters.

Security strategist John Thompson told CTV’s Power Play that it is “clear” Canada will share at least some of the data with allies.

On the potential for privacy breaches, Thompson said he will wait to read the legislation before passing judgement, but added, “if we are giving new powers to our police agencies, we need to know what they are and what the limits are.”

Thompson said the measures are not intended only to prevent terrorism, but also to stop fraudulent refugee claims and fight organized crime.

“People smuggling has become the biggest international business after narcotics and Canada is a prime destination,” he said.

“Having this extra check (that) ensures the travel documents were issued to the person in front of you will cut down on that business.”

CSIS funding also announced

The prime minister also announced that the government is committing more than $135 million in new funding to CSIS over five years to combat terrorism, with nearly $41 million per year thereafter.

“These new resources will be applied directly to counter-terrorism measures,” Harper said. They will increase by a significant factor, the agency’s frontline capacity to combat the growing threat of Jihadi terrorism.”

Harper also announced an increase in resources for the Canada Revenue Agency to identify and shut down charities that finance terror groups.

Thompson said the spy agency is currently “swamped” in its attempt to fight ISIS.

“(ISIS) recruits faster and conditions people faster than any terrorist group I’ve seen in the past 30 years.”