Anyone who uses Canadian airports is familiar with the scene: a long line of passengers waits to go through security. The line moves slowly. Passengers going through the screening pull their laptops from their bags and place them in a tray for inspection. They put their tiny shampoo bottles and tiny toothpaste tubes into tiny plastic baggies. If they’re wearing boots that go ever so slightly above the ankle, they take them off and stand on the cold airport floor in their socks.
And while passengers wait in those lines, they can’t help but look over at the lucky Verified Travellers, whisking their way through the short, speedy Verified Travellers line, where people can leave their computers in their cases, their toothpaste in their toiletry bag and their boots on their feet.
As they stand watching, they may be wondering—how do I get to be a Verified Traveller?
Four classes of Canadians, in fact, get to use the “good line.” First, current members of the Canadian Armed Forces. Second, RCMP members as well as most members of provincial and local police forces. Third, pilots, flight attendants and other aircrew members in uniform, as well as any airport employees who carry special Restricted Area Identification Cards.
If you’re not in one of these categories, the only way to use the fast line is with a NEXUS card. NEXUS is a joint US/Canadian program that lets Canadians cross more easily into the US. It’s ideal for people who do a lot of cross-border business or who work in both countries. Applicants go through security background checks and in-person interviews by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)—and US Homeland Security.
During the first Trump term, when COVID hit, the whole system ground to a halt, creating multi-year waits to get a card. Then the US tightened its rules. Canadians used to be able to go to any major international airport, such as those in Calgary and Edmonton, to be interviewed by US border officials. Now Canadians can only book an interview by crossing a US land border or by buying an airline ticket to an American destination. Getting an appointment isn’t easy. When I spoke to the CBSA a few months ago, they said more than 100,000 Canadians were waiting for an interview.
That’s not the only problem. For many Canadians, the idea of submitting to vetting by Trump’s Homeland Security apparatus, of providing the Trump regime with their fingerprints and their retinal scans, is more than a little disquieting. Then, this past summer, the CBSA confirmed that Homeland Security will only accept NEXUS cards with genders clearly marked F or M. For trans, gender-fluid or gender non-binary Canadians, that means a NEXUS card may simply be out of reach.
The CBSA says applications for NEXUS cards started dropping noticeably last November, right after Trump’s second election. It’s hard to see that trend reversing anytime soon.
The idea of providing the Trump regime with our fingerprints and retinal scans is disquieting.
That’s a problem for Canadian airports. Without enough Verified Travellers in the queue, they can’t afford the staff to keep Verified Traveller lanes open. Already, Ottawa’s airport only opens its Verified line during limited peak hours. The Canadian Airports Council warns that if we don’t have enough Verified Travellers, security wait times will increase for everyone.
Why do we still rely on a country that has threatened our sovereignty to investigate our citizens and collect and retain their private and biometric information? It’s not just gender queer Canadians at risk. What if the Trump government just doesn’t like your politics, your social media posts or your skin tone? Why have we surrendered to another country the authority to determine which Canadians can be trusted?
Maybe you don’t think you need a NEXUS card. Canadians have dramatically reduced US travel since Trump’s annexation threats. But if you want to fly from Edmonton to Moncton, and leave your boots on, you must show a NEXUS card. If you want to fly from Calgary to Ottawa, without unpacking your laptop, you need a NEXUS card. The only way for Canadian frequent fliers to travel conveniently within their own borders is with Donald Trump’s blessing!? It’s bonkers.
It doesn’t have to be this way. As it happens the CBSA already carries out its own background checks in order to issue NEXUS cards. So what is preventing Canada from issuing its own trusted traveller cards to Canadian citizens who aren’t going to the US? I haven’t been able to get a proper answer to that question. And so I recently tabled a motion in the Senate calling on the government to investigate the creation of a sovereign, domestic Verified Travellers program for Canadian air passengers.
It’s well past time for us to repatriate control of our airport security systems and stop contracting out our security assessments to a foreign power. It may cost a bit more. But it will be worth every penny for us to reclaim our national sovereignty, and to ensure that every Canadian has the equal right to travel efficiently—even with toothpaste.
Paula Simons is an Alberta senator and a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications.
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Read more from the archive “Not Enough Pilots” November 2023.
