Full-body scans introduced at Canadian airports

TORONTO - Canada is introducing full-body searches for passengers flying to the US.

Making this announcement Tuesday, Canadian Transport Minister John Baird said millions of passengers flying to the US each year will now face thorough body searches at all airports of the country.

He said the Canadian government is buying 44 imaging scanners to be installed at airports. These scanners will search people by using electromagnetic waves which scan a person through clothing to detect hidden objects.

Canada banned carry-on bags and introduced secondary searches of US-bound passengers at the boarding gate after the aborted bid to blow up a Northwest airliner by an al-Qaeda-linked Nigerian at Detroit on Christmas Day.

In a country where people and civil liberty bodies are neurotically obsessed about even the slightest deviation from the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedom, the government has come under criticism for invasive searches.

The minister said the new imaging scanners will ensure foolproof security as well as ensure respect of privacy.

“The idea of going through an electronic machine is far more comfortable and less invasive for many Canadians than an invasive physical pat down,” he said.

Each scanner will cost roughly $250,000, and will be first installed at the country’s premier airports - Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Halifax - in the coming weeks.

Despite the installation of these machines, security personnel will still have the right to strip search any suspicious passenger.

However, such strip searches won’t be routine, the minister said. But if someone comes in wearing a T-shirt with “suicide bomber” written on it, he would be subjected to physical pat-down because of his “strange behaviour”, he said.