Canadian gov’t. wants to create border ‘biometrics’ authority to validate travelers’ vaccine status
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OTTAWA, Ontario, June 9, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says it has an “urgent” need to create an “Office of Biometrics and Identity Management” that could be used to verify the vaccine status of all Canadian and foreign travelers who enter the country.
A tender notice or Notice of Proposed Procurement (NPP) posted to the Public Services and Procurement Canada website on June 7 states that the CSBA already has three companies with experience in the biometrics field who are interested to set up the new “biometrics” office.
Recently, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that travel restrictions will be eased for those who are fully “vaccinated.” The CSBA NPP was posted only shortly before this announcement.
“The Agency requires this organization to assist with the immediate establishment of an Office of Biometrics and Identity Management and to work with the Agency in researching, planning for and rapidly developing a strategy and roadmap related to the use of Digital solutions enabled by supporting technologies in biometrics, in response to the COVID 19 situation and other operational priorities,” reads the tender notice, which is active until June 21.
The tender notice goes on to note that the chosen “contractor” will bring its “knowledge, capabilities, and experience to support CBSA’s urgent need to establish a biometric strategy, biometric foundation and ultimately a Biometrics Authority (Centre of Excellence).”
Specifically, the CSBA is looking for the “contractor” to assist them in the “development of a comprehensive approach and plan to manage, evolve and adapt in using biometrics.”
The tender notice states that the “contractor” will help the CSBA to “deliver the mission of the agency while considering our interrelationship and joint ventures with other federal government departments and agencies and our international partners.”
A person’s biometric information can be in the form fingerprints or an eye scan, and unlike a paper credential are highly personal.
According to a Canadian Press report, Tamir Israel, who works at the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic in Ottawa, said that while he “welcomes” the use of biometrics, they can pose potential privacy risks.
“I am deeply concerned at the substantial increase in biometric use that this procurement document implies. Biometric recognition and identity can be highly intrusive, and we have seen significant pressure to adopt facial recognition technologies in particular at border crossings,” said Israel.
The timing of the NPP for the creation of an “Office of Biometrics and Identity Management” comes only a week after the Canadian COVID-19 Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel said the federal government should look to begin work on a system to “validate proof of vaccination for arriving travelers as soon as possible.”
The panel recommended that Canada end its mandatory and controversial COVID-19 two-week quarantine hotel program.
This hotel quarantine program is currently the center of a lawsuit against the government on behalf of multiple parties who are being assisted by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF).
Canada’s says border restrictions to be eased for ‘fully vaccinated’
Today, Health Minister Patty Hajdu said that as soon as early July, Canadians who have had the full two doses of a COVID-19 shot do not have to quarantine for 14 days as long as they produce a negative test.
Intergovernmental Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Wednesday that Canadians can expect soon “more of an idea about” what is to come with the new rules, but the “vaccination is key.”
“The first phase we’re considering now is aimed at allowing fully vaccinated individuals who are authorized to enter the country to be able to cross the border without having to stay in a government-authorized accommodation,” said LeBlanc
The news came only a day after Trudeau said Canada is looking to ease border restrictions, but only for those who had been “fully vaccinated.”
CONTACT YOUR MPs: Oppose cross-border travel restrictions based on vaccination! Click to contact your MPs now.
“In the weeks to come, we will have more to say about the measures that we could relax for people who have had two doses,” said Trudeau to reporters on Tuesday.
“It’s very clear that even though one dose has allowed us to significantly protect Canadians, to remove many of the pressures from our public health systems, it is still an incomplete protection and we need people to get the full two doses of their vaccines and that’s why easing of restrictions will be focused on Canadians who are fully vaccinated.”
Trudeau said everyone should get “double vaccinated” with two doses of a COVID-19 jab, as the “science” says that is the best way to fight COVID-19, ”particularly when it comes to some of the new variants of concern, like the delta variant,” said Trudeau.
Trudeau said yesterday that the full details of easing border measures will be announced at a later date.
A Canadian Press report says the Trudeau Liberals were expected today to announce that those who have had two doses of the COVID-19 jab will no longer have to quarantine for a 14-day period.
Since early January, the Canadian federal government has required all air travelers coming into Canada to present a negative PCR or LAMP COVID-19 test to their airline before being allowed to board the flight. Even with a negative test, one has to stay in a government-approved hotel for three days, after which they can go home if they test negative for COVID-19.
Today’s new rules waive the three-day hotel stay for those who have had the COVID-19 jab, but they still must test negative.
Trudeau recently said his government is “right now” working on “certificates of vaccination” for travel with its allies, saying they are to be “expected.”
Recently, Trudeau’s office claimed that a “broad consensus” has been reached among the nation’s premiers working to create “a proof of vaccine credential” system for travel.
Lawyer says government ‘cannot’ deny activities and services to those who choose not to get the jab
Kindle Pejovic, a lawyer for the JCCF, told LifeSiteNews that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms prevents the government from denying “activities and services to those who choose not to receive the experimental COVID-19 vaccine for medical, religious, or philosophical reasons. The more entrenched this separation of society becomes based on vaccination status, the more ostracized the unvaccinated citizens will become.”
LifeSiteNews reported that Manitoba officially launched an immunization card program for those who have “received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine,” allowing the vaccinated freedom over those who choose not to get the experimental shots.
The announcement came a month after a source within the Manitoba government warned LifeSiteNews about it.
The source told LifeSiteNews that he believes the main reason for the card is for travel.
“Requiring the use of this service will undoubtedly further segregate people and create a ‘lesser class’ of sorts,” the source told LifeSiteNews.
Health Canada has authorized four COVID-19 injections for adults, all with connections to abortion. All of them have been associated with severe side effects such as blood clots, rashes, miscarriages, and even heart attacks in young healthy men.
Currently, no Canadian province has implemented any type of “vaccine passport.” However, most allow people to access their vaccine status online.
In May, Quebec began to send as “electronic proof” a vaccination confirmation in the form of a QR code to those who had received a COVID-19 jab.
Thus far, conservative premiers in Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan have not yet publicly spoken out in favor of or in full opposition to so-called “vaccine passports.”
In April, the JCCF released a powerful video highlighting concerns surrounding COVID-19 “vaccine passports,” and the mandatory vaccinations being touted by some provincial governments.
CONTACT YOUR MPs: Oppose cross-border travel restrictions based on vaccination! Click to contact your MPs now.
Contact information:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
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