Canadian immigration joins three-way data sharing initiative
August 24 2009 by Matt Jones
Jason Kenney: Canada visa data share
In a recent announcement Canadian immigration Minister Jason Kenney revealed a new data sharing initiative that will help remove fraudulent refugee claims and make genuine applicants receive faster treatment.
The initiative will involve sharing information about refugees including finger print details. The counties taking part in the new program are Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
The initiative was a result of the Five Country Conference (FCC) which included the three aforementioned counties as well as the United States of America and New Zealand. The latter two didn’t join the information sharing program straight away but have expressed interested in joining in the future.
Kenney said: “Through this initiative, we are tackling identity fraud and abuse of our immigration and refugee programs, while at the same time ensuring that Canada continues to welcome genuine refugees. Canada has had a long-standing collaborative relationship with the FCC countries and I am pleased that we are building on this partnership”.
The initiative will also allow genuine refugees making a Canada visa application to be processed more quickly and not be disadvantaged by false applications made by people looking to move to Canada, or any contry that takes part in he initiative.
The finger print data of asylum seekers who are facing deportation will be shared between the three counties to help prevent the deportees re-applying for a visa in another country.
The new agreement allows the countries to check each others data bases for matches, but doesn’t allow compete unrestricted access.
Questions regarding privacy have been raised.
Anne-Marie Hayden, spokeswoman for Privacy Commissioner said: "We very much look forward to receiving further clarity and information from CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) to ensure that this initiative is respectful of the privacy rights of what may be considered quite a vulnerable group. We understand this is just one of several biometrics initiatives being considered by the CIC and we've made CIC aware of our concerns.”
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