16 March 2009

Quebec: Charest to unveil 'enhanced' licences

This article is excerpted from the 16 March 2009 edition of the “Ottawa Citizen”.

Premier Jean Charest will announce today that Quebecers can get an enhanced driver's licence that will also serve as proof of Canadian citizenship. The province's access-to-information commissioner, who is also the head of its privacy commission, has reservations about whether the new licence will violate the privacy of Quebecers and has not given his final approval. The licence will bear the indication CAN -- for Canadian citizen -- and will contain a radio-frequency ID chip that can be read 10 metres away. The chip allows a U.S. border guard access to personal information such as the name, date of birth, gender, citizenship, a digital photograph and driver's-licence information.