Bill Curry, Ottawa (Globe and Mail) – High-risk criminals remain able to obtain security clearances for jobs at Canadian airports – including one individual who was under investigation for murder in a drug smuggling scheme at a large airport, according to the latest Auditor-General’s report.
Released Tuesday, the report follows-up on previous recommendations and Auditor-General Sheila Fraser finds several gaps remain in Canada’s efforts to protect national security.
The key gaps identified – that Canada must do a better job of screening airport employees and of sharing information between agencies – comes more than two decades after the Air India bombing, the largest terrorist attack in Canadian history. The Auditor-General’s 2004 report on national security issues also called for improved screening of airport employees.
This year’s follow-up report found Transport Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are not sharing information that would help them properly assess individuals applying for security clearance jobs at Canadian airports.
“We highlight one case where a pass has been granted to an individual who had assault and weapons convictions and was under investigation for a murder relating to drug smuggling at a large airport,” the report states.
Ms. Fraser said in a press conference that she was not able to provide further details on the incident.
Ms. Fraser’s auditors reported that Transport Canada is holding back information from the RCMP because of privacy concerns, while the RCMP holds back information from Transport Canada because it fears the department will then pass on that info to the individuals who are turned down for security clearance.
“As a result, Transport Canada may be granting clearance to high-risk individuals for work in secure areas of Canada’s airports. Progress on the sharing of information for security screening of individuals working at airports is thus unsatisfactory,” the report states.
Tuesday’s joint report from Ms. Fraser and Environment Commissioner Scott Vaughan examined how the government has responded to past recommendations in seven areas. The response in two of the seven areas – Governor in Council appointments and Canada Revenue audits – were deemed unsatisfactory. The remaining five – national security, Indian and Northern Affairs efforts to convert land into reserves, Passport Canada’s response to rising demand, guidelines for safe drinking water and the creation of an Air Quality Health Index – all received satisfactory rankings.
The progress on national security was given a passing mark in spite of numerous specific concerns raised in Tuesday’s report.
In the chapter on national security, the Auditor-General also calls for more oversight of the various agencies and departments who are collecting information for national security reasons. The report notes that the federal government has received several internal policy papers on this issue but is waiting to see the recommendations of the public inquiry into the Air India bombing, which is expected to be released shortly.
Gaps in information sharing between the RCMP, CSIS and Foreign Affairs on national security were a common theme in the inquiry hearings and the report is expected to recommend a new oversight regime for national security.
The report also notes that Justice Canada is preparing legislation that, if approved and introduced by cabinet, would revise the mandates of several security agencies to smooth any legal hurdles to information sharing.
The report notes that the seven main federal departments and agencies have various levels of oversight – and some have none at all.
For instance, the department of National Defence “has created one of the largest intelligence capabilities in the government” under the heading of Chief of Defence Intelligence, yet there is no civilian oversight to ensure this secret activity complies with Canadian law.
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