Thread: Poll: Canadians OK with biometrics to curb illegal immigrati

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/world/artic ... 33,00.html

Poll: Canadians OK with biometrics to curb illegal immigration
By MARINA JIMENEZ
October 1, 2006


Most Canadians do not understand what biometrics are, but think the government should use them to prevent prospective immigrants from using bogus identity documents to enter the country, according to a poll obtained by the Globe and Mail.

Fraudulent identity documents are a "very serious problem" and biometrics should be used to prevent people from abusing government programs, including the immigration and refugee systems, said more than half the respondents in the Ipsos Reid survey conducted for the agency Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

"Four out of five Canadians believe that by the end of this decade, it is likely almost every adult Canadian will have at least one biometric ID on file to verify their identity," the survey notes. "Sixty-seven percent support conducting background checks to verify the identity of non-Canadians applying for an immigration visa to enter Canada."

The March 2006 poll also found Canadians remain supportive of the country's immigration program, with 49 percent calling annual levels (of about 220,000-260,000) "just about right," and 57 percent saying immigrants have a positive impact on their community. However, Canadians don't think Ottawa is doing enough to ensure that newcomers settle outside Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

"This shows how deeply ingrained support for immigration actually is," said Jeffrey Reitz, a sociologist at University of Toronto. "Even when there is concern about security as reflected in biometric attitudes, support for immigration remains high, especially as compared to other countries."

The study, which has a margin of error of 2.8 per cent, is an annual tracking poll to assess public opinion on immigration policy. Support for immigration levels has remained steady in recent years, while concern about the use of fraudulent identity documents has increased by several percentage points.

Despite their endorsement of biometrics, Canadians have only a limited understanding of this area of information technology, which refers to the science and technology of measuring biological data - including fingerprints, retinas, irises, voice patterns and hands - to authenticate a person's identity. Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they know "nothing" about biometrics, and only 2 percent defined it as fingerprint analysis and eye scans.



(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

The March 2006 poll also found Canadians remain supportive of the country's immigration program, with 49 percent calling annual levels (of about 220,000-260,000)

Hmmm, those annual levels may have a lot to do with why Canadians feel supportive of immigrants. I wonder how that would feel with more than a million poverty stricken illegal immigrants crossing their border annually?

The article really doesn't address hoards of illegal immigrants pouring into Canada.

Yeah, I noticed that too MW. I would bet that the actual poll questions strongly emphasized that they were addressing legal immigration. And those numbers are very reasonable but remember, Canada has stepped up it's temporary Mexican worker programs dramatically. I would love to see those numbers. If Canadians think these "guests" are going to dutifully leave when their work visa's expire, they have another thing coming.

In fact, there was an article here not to long ago about how Canadian union construction workers were outraged that contractors there were using the same "worker shortage" BS to use cheap Mexican temporary workers....dispite the fact that their union ranks are chock full of workers raring to go!

It looks like the Canadian government is going to make sure it's big business interests get in on the cheap labor frenzy, they are just going to go about it in more stealthy manner.

I hope the Canadian citizens wise up, and wise up fast. If not, they will all be chipped and trackable before they realize that they too are being sold out by their own government.