Rethink bungled border ID card

( published in toronto star Dec 21

Travel is stressful. During the frantic holiday season, crowds and winter storms can make it nightmarish.

It's a bad time for the confusion that surrounds Ottawa's bungled introduction of a \\\"permanent resident\\\" identification card.

Permanent residents are people who have been allowed to enter Canada as immigrants but who have not become citizens.

By Dec. 31, just in time for the New Year's rush, Ottawa wants them to have a new form of travel identification, the so-called Maple Leaf card complete with photograph and sophisticated security features that make it more difficult to forge.

The wallet-sized plastic ID replaces the old record-of-landing form IMM-1000, which was a simple sheet of paper that could be easily altered or counterfeited.

Since the change was announced in June, 2002, more than half of Canada's 1.5 million landed immigrants have complied with the new regulations and have obtained the card. Many were issued the ID when they first entered the country.

But some 65,000 applications are still in the system and nearly 600,000 people have yet to apply. Many have lived here for decades and didn't know about the rule change or learned of it too late to get a card before going abroad. Processing takes 12 weeks or more.

Canada Immigration and Citizenship advertised the deadline in newspapers and distributed leaflets to travel agencies. But that campaign clearly wasn't sufficient.

This is a poor job of rolling out a worthwhile initiative.

Border security is vitally important and no one can object to the government requiring tamper-proof identity documents. But this chaos is inexcusable.

Federal officials say all landed immigrants must have the card as of Dec. 31 if they plan to travel internationally on a commercial carrier, be it a plane, train, bus or ship.

If they don't have the card, Ottawa says, they must get a special temporary travel pass from a visa office before they will be allowed aboard for their return to Canada.

All this leaves travellers baffled, along with airline employees.

People worry about being stranded or hassled at the border. They fear lineups at visa offices overseas.

Ottawa must fix this mess. Immigration Minister Judy Sgro should extend the deadline until the program can be implemented effectively, with a minimum of disruption to the travelling public.