TORONTO – Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced broad new measures to expand the collection of fingerprints and digital photos of foreign travellers as they enter Canada.
Harper said Thursday the measure will help improve security and is intended to combat the threat of global terrorism. The government will spend $312 million over five years on the plan which will see travellers from every country that requires a visa, except the United States, to submit the so-called “biometric information”.
“We’ll make sure people are who they say they are,” Harper said to a crowd of several hundred people packed into a North York hotel ballroom. “(We’ll) make sure the person who arrives in Canada is the same person who applied for the visa overseas. You can fake your name, you can fake your documents but you cannot fake your fingerprints.”
Canada already collects biometric information from travellers from 29 countries. This initiative will see that expand to 150 by 2018-2019.
The government will also commit more funding to the Canada Security Intelligence Service and tCanada Revenue Agency. CSIS will see its frontline counter-terrorism efforts beefed up with the investment. The CRA funding will focus on preventing Canadian charities from funding terrorism abroad, he said.
“Our government recognizes the terrorist arsenal includes more than guns, knives and bombs,” Harper said. “To radicalize and equip collaborators here at home or to finance malevolent actors in other parts of the world, terrorists need cash.”