Families take no-fly kid woes to Parliament Hill
Government proposing an amendment to Secure Air Travel Act that would allow the public safety minister to tell parents their child is not on Canada’s no-fly list
A gaggle of young constituents — and their parents — descended on Parliament Hill to press politicians to resolve ongoing airport hassles children face due to security list snags.
Ten families from the group known as the No Fly List Kids planned to make their case to MPs and ministers with the aim of ensuring that funding for a new computer system to fix the problem is included in the 2018 federal budget.
Parents of children who have repeatedly endured nervewracking airport delays because a youngster’s name matches one on a no-fly list say federal security legislation now before Parliament will do nothing in the short term to ease their woes.
The government is proposing an amendment to the Secure Air Travel Act that would allow the public safety minister to tell parents that their child is not on the Canadian no-fly list, meaning the name simply matches that of someone who is actually listed. The government says this would provide assurance to parents about their child’s status.
The legislation, part of a broad package of security-related measures, would also allow federal officials to electronically screen air passenger information against the list, a process currently in the hands of airlines. The government Heather Harder and her son Sebastian Khan, 3, of London, Ont., visit Parliament Hill to voice their concerns for Canada’s No Fly List Kids on Monday. Sebastian’s name is one of many kids who are on the no fly list. says this would prevent “However, it will take time to false name matches by enabling make regulatory and database it to issue unique redress numbers changes to support a redress for pre-flight verification of system. We are grateful for the identity. But it also means creating patience and understanding of a new computer system to do those affected in the meantime.” the job. Families were disappointed
Scott Bardsley, a spokesman funds for the new system did not for Public Safety Minister Ralph turn up in the last federal budget Goodale, said the department and they’re beginning to lose patience. understands the frustration of travellers and wants to reassure “This is a technical problem them that work on long-term that requires a technical solution,” improvements continues. said Sulemaan Ahmed, whose son Adam, 8, has been held up many times before boarding a flight.
“The families are not willing to wait longer for more excuses.”
In June 2016 the government created an inquiries office to help resolve travellers’ problems. But the No Fly List Kids group, which now includes more than 100 youngsters, says the difficulties persist.
“Every time we fly it happens,” said Heather Harder, whose son Sebastian, 3, has been repeatedly flagged.
“My family is from Saskatchewan. And so we go back to visit them fairly often. Every leg of the trip we’re stopped,” she said after a news conference Monday.
“We’ve only flown domestically. We’re actually too nervous to fly internationally.”
Ahmed and his wife Khadija Cajee stressed the need for a more effective redress system last month in a presentation on behalf of the group to a House of Commons committee conducting consultations on the next budget.
“Some of our children have been denied initial boarding and delayed to the point that they have missed flights internationally. Older No Fly List Kids avoid travel due to the potential for stigmatization,” the submission said.
“All families find the security screenings become increasingly invasive as their children have gotten older.”
Ahmed worries about children who have been caught in the nofly web for years and now find themselves travelling abroad as young adults, with no guardians nearby to sort out problems.
“This goes beyond the no-fly list, actually,” he said. “This could impact their employment, this could impact security clearance, this could impact admission into universities and schools.”
In addition, the group says, the mismatches often involve Muslim-sounding or Arabic-sounding names, raising the question of charter of rights guarantees of equality under the law.
“The darker side here is that we know that things go terribly wrong when it comes to information-sharing and lists of this sort that get shared with governments around the world,” said Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, who attended the news conference.
“It can even lead to unjust imprisonment, disappearances and torture. That’s why we need to take this seriously.”