OTTAWA (CP) - The federal privacy czar says Canada's border agency can't be sure how much or how often it shares personal information about Canadians with the United States.

In a detailed audit released Tuesday, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart calls on the Canada Border Services Agency to better track the cross-border flow of sensitive data. "We need transparency. We need to know where our personal information is going," Stoddart said in an interview.

"We need to keep track of it, so we know what is happening to it and who is going to be using it, and on what conditions."

The border services agency is responsible for ensuring the smooth flow of people and goods, while intercepting individuals and items considered a security risk to Canada or its allies.

The agency collects personal information about millions of travellers, including detailed financial information, family history and travel data, as well as identifiers such as social insurance and passport numbers.

Stoddart warns that as law enforcement and national security organizations around the world collect increasing amounts of information, there is a risk of incomplete or inaccurate data "leading to undesirable consequences," such as unnecessary scrutiny.

A federal inquiry is in the final stages of examining the role of Canadian agencies in the case of Ottawa engineer Maher Arar, who was deported by U.S. authorities to Syria and imprisoned in a grim cell for months.

Stoddart says much of the information the border agency shares with the United States is relayed orally, contravening both agency policy and a Canada-U.S. agreement signed more than 20 years ago.

Under agency policy, officials must keep records of all customs information requested and released to external organizations.

This is supposed to include the name of the requester, the date the request was received, the purpose for which customs information is required, the nature of the information disclosed and the rationale for the decision taken.

"The audit found that compliance with this policy is lacking," the report says.

"The CBSA cannot, with a reasonable degree of certainty, report either on the extent to which it shares personal information with the United States, or how much and how often it does so."

Furthermore, the agency cannot be certain all of its information-sharing activity is permitted under relevant provisions the Customs Act and the Privacy Act.

Stoddart says the border agency should improve the quality of information it collects and shares about airline passengers.

Such data is important because it could result in an electronic "lookout" being created, which often results in the traveller undergoing a secondary examination at an airport.

The commissioner recommends Canada and the United States draft an agreement to ensure that this shared personal information is "complete, current and accurate."

Stoddart also wants the border agency to provide more detail to Parliament and Canadians about the personal data it passes to other countries.

"As the system is set up now, in the border situation, we don't have a complete picture of where our information is going," she said in the interview.

"We know that Canadians are concerned about data flowing across borders. There's a lot of anxiety about where our data is going abroad, what is happening to it."

In responses included in the audit report, the Canada Border Services Agency agrees with Stoddart's rec ommendations and indicates how the organization intends to comply.

The audit was released in tandem with Stoddart's annual report, in which she notes a trend of increased sharing of information among police and national security agencies for law enforcement and anti-terrorism purposes.
 

© The Canadian Press, 2006