In this world of changing technology, it’s a challenge to stay one step ahead of criminals who would place us all at risk.

Enter the ePassport, which adds new security measures to Canada’s existing passport documents. Canadian passports are among the most sought after in the world on the black market, so there is good reason to make them harder to reproduce. The new ePassport will have a chip embedded in the back cover that mirrors the same information printed inside on page 2.

In 2012, Canada will join about 60 other countries that have made the switch already with no reported chip failures. The federal government, through Passport Canada, is welcoming input from Canadians who wish to share their ideas and concerns about the new technology. There is a questionnaire to fill out at www.passportcanada.gc.ca until May 7. After that date, Passport Canada will use the responses to prepare a service and fee proposal. The proposal will be presented on the agency’s website, and there will be another opportunity to provide input at that time.

The current Canadian passport already contains information that can be scanned by border agents. The ePassport will include holographic images and an invisible photo of the bearer that appears only under ultraviolet light. It will also contain a country-specific signature that proves the passport was issued by the Canadian government. Passport Canada started a pilot project in January 2009 and has issued about 25,000 diplomatic and special passports containing the chip, and no difficulties have been reported.

Adding the chip to the Canadian passport will increase security by reducing tampering, and fighting fraud and illegal migration. The chip adds more layers of identity checks that must match the page 2 content visible to the naked eye. The chip will also have an electronic lock that will reveal any attempt to tamper with it.

To safeguard Canadian travellers, it is extremely unlikely that the data stored on the chip could be scanned without the passport holder’s knowledge. The proximity “contactless” chip can only be read within 10 centimetres of the reader. And, the data on the chip cannot be displayed until the machine-readable zone on page 2 has been read first, which means the passport book pages must be open.

While passports have thus far expired after five years, the ePassport is expected to introduce a 10-year option. Current passports will remain valid until renewal, and ePassports will be offered after they are introduced in 2012.

-30-