North America Integration Stepping Up

Canadian 'enhanced driver's licence' thestar/canada

As part of the Bush administration's war on terror, Canadians entering the U.S. will soon need to show a passport or equivalent document in compliance with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The U.S. has already put this requirement into effect for air travel and in June 2009 it will cover all land and water crossings.

In anticipation of this and to facilitate "the efficient and secure flow of cross-border travel and commerce," several Canadian provinces are instituting enhanced driver's licences (EDL). Enhancing a licence in accordance with standards set by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security involves including a citizenship indicator, an optical character recognition zone and a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip.

The chip on the card will hold a unique personal identification number that anyone in the vicinity (at least 10 metres) can read with commercially available equipment and link to any other information the person may have about the card holder.

Soon after B.C. announced its licence initiative in early 2008, Canada's privacy commissioners drew attention to the privacy risks of EDLs. In particular, they were concerned that the U.S. government's requirements for vicinity RFID technology "permits surreptitious location tracking of individuals carrying an EDL and ... does not encrypt or otherwise protect the unique identifying number assigned to the holder."

With earlier attempts at developing national ID card schemes in Canada and the U.S. having been thwarted by popular opposition, the current push for EDLs appears to be a soft-sell, backdoor approach toward national ID schemes that are harmonized across all of North America.
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see previous post Western Hemisphere Driver's License/ID 7-17-08

The move toward enhanced driver's licenses in states bordering Canada and Mexico is being driven by the federal Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. In June 2009, the initiative will begin requiring U.S. citizens to have a proof-of-citizenship document, passport or some other federally approved identification for getting into the country through land or sea ports, said Kathy Kraninger, the Department of Homeland Security's deputy assistant secretary for policy."

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re: EDL's and "national ID schemes that are harmonized across all of North America"

Trackable rfid "enhanced driver's license" programs have already begun in a numerous locations in the U.S., and now Canada is set to link into the same system. Starting in June 2009, U.S. citizens will need to show 'your papers please' to enter their own country. compare: Internal Checkpoints Starting? 9-14-08

The "intercontinental harmonization" of Canada, America, and Mexico (the North American union) for the new regional world government system cannot be disguised any longer. This regional government system being implemented means the end of sovereign nations, to put it very simply, as individual nations are now being grouped into their respective regions for management purposes. This will become increasingly obvious as the changes ahead will be dramatic. The intercontinental identification system now being phased in is only one facet of those changes, but a big one nonetheless. Be aware...the 'beast' is taking control.

That intercontinental system will be going global too, by the way. see: global-citizenship 3/19/08