Canadian Authorities to Track Unverified Refugees with Voice Recognition

“With biometric voice recognition, the CBSA agents will be able to ensure that they really are in contact with their charges in situations where probation-type monitoring would require extensive or strenuous travel.”

Canadian border authorities are looking to yet more biometric solutions to managing ensuring security, with the announcement that they will use voice recognition to monitor individuals who pose a potential security risk to the country.

It’s part of a larger program of newly-announced “Alternatives To Detention” – means of monitoring refugee claimants whose identities have not been fully vetted, short of keeping them in detention centers. The biometric ATD is designed to let up to 10,000 individuals check in with Canada Border Services Agency officials on a regular basis by phone. With biometric voice recognition, the CBSA agents will be able to ensure that they really are in contact with their charges in situations where probation-type monitoring would require extensive or strenuous travel.

The biometric ATD’s announcement comes at amid a major expansion in biometric border screening which will begin to take effect at the end of this month, when visitors from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East will be required to submit fingerprints and a facial image to CBSA authorities. The Canadian government plans to extend this requirement to the Americas and the APAC region at the end of the year.

Other new Alternatives To Detention include community-based case management services and a pilot program that will be based on as-yet-unspecified ‘electronic monitoring’ technology.

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July 26, 2018 – by Alex Perala