Group wants feds to resolve airport delays, hassles due to sharing name with someone on no-fly list

OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – A group of children and their moms and dads have made their way to Parliament Hill today to demand action from the federal government over name mix-ups on the ‘no-fly list.’

It’s a case of mistaken identity that leads to a lot of hassles: Children travelling with their parents happen to share a name with someone who is on the no-fly list because they pose a security threat.

Amber Cammish says she has faced serious problems and intense questioning from authorities at airports, simply because of her daughter’s name. “I, myself, I’ve [spent] hours with my daughter — four years old. Air Canada has delayed a plane for us just to ensure that we actually made it on there.”

Heather Harder, whose young son Sebastien Khan has faced this problem, says the government isn’t doing enough to fix this issue, and she wants immediate action. “Stop subjecting innocent Canadians to extra security measures, travel interruptions, and stigmitization.”

While the government does have legislation before Parliament to address this problem, the families say it doesn’t go far enough and could take years to go into effect.

They are calling for federal funding in the spring budget to create a new computer system which would allow officials to quickly verify the child or adult is not the same person as the name on the no-fly list.

“This is a technical problem that requires a technical solution,” 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.

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 no-fly 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.”

The government had kept many details of the list secret, but this group believes thousands of children and adults could be affected by these mistakes.

The No Fly List Kids group has enlisted support from MPs of all stripes who have written letters to encourage Finance Minister Bill Morneau to include the redress measure in the next budget.

Among them is Toronto Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, who chaired the House of Commons public safety committee when it issued a report on national security calling on the government to provide the financial resources for the new system.

“Through expert witnesses, it became apparent to our committee that the no-fly list’s social cost, without an appropriate redress system, greatly outweighs its security benefit,” Oliphant says in the August letter.

“Affected Canadians find their ability to visit family members, travel for leisure or travel for the economic benefit of Canada severely limited and sometimes revoked.”

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