ID cards rushed to appease U.S.

[Nottingham]

ID cards rushed to appease U.S.

Pressure to tighten security: Report

By MARIA McCLINTOCK, Ottawa Bureau




OTTAWA -- The federal government fast-tracked a new immigration ID card after coming under intense international pressure -- led by the U.S. -- to clamp down on illegal immigrants using forged documents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Sun Media has learned. A secret internal document prepared for citizenship and immigration after the U.S. attacks shows while the Liberals defended security of Canada's border in public, behind the scenes high-ranking government officials were admitting the country's credibility was suffering.

"The current (IMM 1000) document has lost credibility and has become a major problem for the immigration program," the document obtained by Sun Media under Access to Information shows.

"Our international relationships with key national and international partners ... have been stressed; and the integrity of the program as a whole has been damaged."

After almost 10 years of studying how to replace the easily forged IMM 1000 -- a paper travel document issued to all landed immigrants -- the Liberals gave top priority to replacing it with the plasticized Maple Leaf card.

more....

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/News/2003/07/20/140644.html


Poor Canada getting tremendous Pressure! For those thinking of moving to Canada it may get harder! :bounce:

[NYC]

1. Moving to Canada may become harder.

That was the first thing that came to my mind.

[Resistance Is Futile]

2. Ahem...

IMM 1000 was an obsolete joke that was trivially easy to forge. The Canadian landed immigrant card (n.b. it's not a national identity card) was long a overdue.

Citizens can get passports. The resident card is merely an equivalent for resident non-citizens.

Nothing about the adoption of landed immigrant cards consitutes a change in Canadian immigration policy.