THE MINISTRY of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade says it is closely monitoring a proposal from the United States (US) Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) that would require permanent residents (non-citizens) in Canada travelling to the US to have visas.
"We are aware of the development. It is a proposed measure and we are monitoring the situation as some Jamaicans who are legally residing in Canada would be affected by the policy, if implemented," Ambassador Douglas Saunders, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry said in a recent interview with the Jamaica Information Service.
Ambassador Saunders said Jamaicans were not being specifically targeted under the proposed policy as the measure related to all non-citizens from some 50 Commonwealth countries who were resident in Canada.
He stressed that this was US/Canada issue.
Currently, a Canadian landed immigrant or permanent resident now only needs to show documents of landed status in order to visit the US.
This proposed policy change has caused somewhat of an uproar in Canada coming right after the US has started to fingerprint Canadian travellers, citizens and non-citizens, who were born in selected Arab Muslim countries. Nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Yemen have been affected by this new measure.
US officials have said that the photographing of these persons was intended to keep track of who was entering and leaving the country.
Canada's Immigration Minister, Denis Coderre, said he did not understand the reasons for the proposed new changes. He said he was disturbed by the idea that the US would require travel documents from non-Canadian citizens and he would be addressing the issue when he visits the US later this month.
In a related incident, Canada's Privacy Commissioner, George Radwanski has asked the federal government to drop "place of birth" from Canadian passports.
In an open letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham recently, Mr. Radwanski said, "the information is irrelevant since a Canadian citizen is a Canadian citizen, without distinction and it is also potentially misleading".
He said the information "constitutes an unjustified and unnecessary disclosure by the Government of Canada of personal information about individuals to anyone who has occasion to see their passports."
The Privacy Commissioner further stated that the inclusion of place of birth on Canadian passports could possibly expose Canadian citizens to physical danger.
