Carrier Worried About Employees Who Encounter List Hits
The
Canadian version of the no-fly list will become official June 18...
and Air Canada has voiced concern for its front-line staff that
comes across someone who is actually on the list, and the potential
reaction such a discovery might produce.
Air Canada's head of security, Yves Duguay, told the Air India
inquiry in Ottawa Friday while the carrier supports the idea of a
no-fly list, it wonders about dealing with someone when they learn
they are on the list. If staff makes a hit, they are supposed to
notify law enforcement, prevent the person from boarding and
explain why, according to the National Post.
"Our foremost concern is of course for the safety and concern of
our front-line staff and the customers at the check-in counter
should there be a match, should someone show up at the counter and
we identify that person as being a person on the interdiction
list," Duguay, a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, told
inquiry head John Major.
"The situation could turn to an unruly situation very quickly
when the person finds out that they cannot fly."
According to Transport Canada, the no-fly list may include "an
individual who is or has been involved in a terrorist group, and
who, it can reasonably be suspected, will endanger the security of
any aircraft or aerodrome or the safety of the public, passengers,
or crew members" or someone who has been convicted of "serious and
life-threatening offenses".
According to Duguay, police officers will be standing by at the
ready at major Canadian airports, but that might not be the case at
the carrier's international destinations.
"There is the possibility that the situation could be very tense
and we have to have an authority figure in place to diffuse that
situation. So we want to make sure we have a police presence, not
only in Canada but that this is something that should also be
addressed abroad because of the type of situation we have," he
said.
The move to initiate a no-fly list similar to the US's has had
its share of controversy and opposition. In addition to safety
concerns, privacy issues top the list.
A Transport Canada official testified last week at the inquiry
it was possible information on the list could wind up in another
government's hands, despite best attempts to keep it as
confidential as possible, according to the Vancouver Sun.
Duguay said Air Canada would be very careful with the
information, but some information would have to be shared with
police at foreign airports.
Jennifer Stoddart, Canada's privacy commissioner, anticipates
the list becoming "quite a nightmare" for normal, everyday
Canadians.
"Every time we go to the airport, do we expect to be challenged?
That may be the new world," she said.
Itrath Syed, research associate at University of British
Columbia's Center for Women and Gender Studies and civil-rights
activist, told the Vancouver Georgia Straight last month she fears
the compilation of the list was a "very arbitrary process".
"I think the issue here is if people are being suspected of
something, then they should be charged," she said. "If there is not
enough evidence to charge someone, what is the evidence then to
deny someone the right to mobility? If you're going to be on the
list, you should be told and told why, so you would have a chance
to do something about it."
Duguay also chairs a security committee at the International Air
Transport Association. He said Air Canada would work with Transport
Canada on concerns about the list and its application, but notes
the list t is based on gathered intelligence and will likely be
very short and rarely used by airlines.
"As the deadline looms, at Air Canada we will undertake to
contact local police forces when we've identified an exact match to
our system," he said.
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