Ontario To Issue Enhanced Driver's

UNCLAS TORONTO 000390 SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D COPY SLUG LINE DEPT PLEASE PASS TO DHS, AND DHS PLEASE PASS TO CBP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC CPAS ETRD PBTS KFRD PGOV CA SUBJECT: Ontario To Issue Enhanced Driver's Licenses and Photo Cards in Run Up to WHTI Ref: Toronto 233 ¶1. (U) Summary: The Ontario Ministry of Transportation plans to begin issuing Enhanced Driver's Licenses (EDLs) and Enhanced Photo Cards (EPCs) this winter to be used as alternatives to passports in land and sea crossings to the U.S. The Photo Card Act of 2008 passed the Ontario legislature in November 2008 by a 71-10 vote, despite claims of privacy And security concerns as raised by the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPCO) and privacy groups. While the stated privacy and security issues have mostly been addressed, costs and availability of the cards may mean that t here will not be an immediate rush for the EDLs and EPCs. Additionally, further coordination with USG counterparts seems necessary. End Summary. -------------- -------------- The Ontario Enhanced Driver's License and Photo ID -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) In the run-up to land border implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), the Ontario Ministry of Transportation introduced the Photo Card Act of 2008, which allows the province to issue EDLs and EPCs to Ontario residents. The Ontario legislature passed the bill in November 2008, making Ontario the second province, after British Columbia, to adopt the enhanced licenses. ¶3. (U) The EDLs and EPCs will include the card holder's citizenship status and are intended to be used as an alternative to passports for land and sea crossings into the United States. Individuals who need a visa would still be required to present a valid Canadian passport at border crossings. Ontario currently does not issue non-driver photo ID. At present the Consulate verifies the identity of Canadian non-drivers by using either newer Ontario health cards, which include the card holder's picture or the photo ID cards issued by the provincially-owned Liquor Control Board of Ontario. However it is not uncommon for non-drivers in Ontario to have no photo ID at all. With the passing of the 2008 Photo Card Act, Ontario will start issuing a non-driver's license photo ID card for the first time. -------------- - A Documentary Process to Determine Citizenship -------------- - �0A;¶4. (U) A contact at Ontario's Ministry of Transportation (MoT) explained that the Ministry will use what he called a documentary process to certify the citizenship of applicants. EDL applicants will be required to submit birth certificates if they are natural born Canadians, or naturalization documents if they are naturalized Canadians; proof of identity; and proof of residence in Ontario. Service Ontario, a provincial agency, will process such applications. Service Ontario employees, who will undergo advanced fraud training, will review documents to confirm an applicant's citizenship. In addition, applicants will also be asked to answer a federally mandated questionnaire. The Ontario MoT will issue the EDLs and EPCs after applications are approved. According to our contact, the MoT has consulted with the Canadian federal government to mirror the EDL and EPC processes after the passport application process. Post understands there is an Ontario/CBP MOU on the EDLs, but we have not seen it. It is our understanding that to date the WHTI program office at CBP has neither received nor approved Ontario's business proposal to issue its EDLs. -------------- --- EDLs to Become Available as Early as Winter 2008 -2009 -------------- --- ¶5. (U) The Ontario Government is targeting winter 2008-09 for EDL availability at selected Service Ontario locations across the province. Additional locations may be added in the future. The fee for an EDL will likely be C$40 above the regular C$75 driver's license fee for a total of C$115. EDLs will have five-year validity. This price is C$30 more than the cost of an adult Canadian passport which currently costs C$85 for five year validity. Photo cards for non-drivers have a target launch in spring 2010 and will be available at Service Ontario, which is the clearing house for Ontario Government services. -------------- EDLs Expected to Facilitate Trade and Tourism -------------- ¶6. (U) More than 92,000 cars and 22,300 trucks carry almost C$800 million in goods across the Ontario-U.S. border daily. Peter Fonseca, Ontario Tourism Minister at the time that the EDL legislation was introduced, said that Ontario will work closely with neighboring U.S. states as they implement similar EDL initiatives. The Ontario government's goal is to minimize any disruptions in cross-border travel, he added, and that Ontario will "welcome to Ontario with open arms," U.S. citizens with EDLs issued by their own state. -------------- Ontario Privacy Commissioner's Security and Privacy Concerns -------------- ¶7. (U) The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPCO),along with private groups, raised concerns about the EDLs and made recommendations during legislative deliberations of the bill in October 2008. One particular stated concern was adequate oversight of how U.S. Customs and Border Protection receives and uses the personal information of Canadians. Another claimed concern was the risk RFID technology embedded in the cards poses to privacy and security. Possible cloning of the chips was another concern. According to IPCO, such scenarios could put users at risk for identity theft, unauthorized identification, and covert surveillance of individuals. ¶8. (U) The recommendations put forward by IPCO included minimizing the duplication of data, with Ottawa solely responsible for keeping a citizenship database. IPCO also recommended that the Ontario government pursue adding a privacy-enhancing on/off switch for the RFID tag embedded in the card. According to an IPCO contact, the Commission is currently working with two European firms to develop an on/off switch, which would enable the cardholder to control when information is being transmitted from the card. That technology would not be available for the first roll out of the cards this winter, but IPCO hopes it will be offered in future cards. Meanwhile, EDLs and EPCs will be issued with an "electronically opaque" sleeve called a Faraday Cage, to store the card when not in use. In total, IPCO presented 20 recommendations covering the collection, usage, and protection of private information. While the legislature did not follow all of the recommendations, our IPCO contact stated that IPCO is satisfied that the bill sufficiently addresses privacy concerns. ¶9. (U) Comment: Costs and availability may not be the only limiting factors for the EDLs and EPCs. The first cards issued this winter will only be available in limited locations. Also, residents may decide to wait until their current drivers' licenses expire, instead of paying for a new license right away. Moreover, the market for the EDLs and EPCs may be limited to residents living within a couple hours drive from the border and to those who do not travel frequently enough to have a passport. We are concerned that while the province plans to begin issuing EDLs in winter 2009, it may not have completed its due diligence with the USG. Post will ask that DHS review its contacts to see whether further consultation is needed in advance of the start of issuance of the new Ontario documents. NAY