Members of the No-Fly List Kids campaign gather in Ottawa to press members of parliament for a solution. Credit: Karen Ahmed.
By Khadija Cajee
No-Fly List Kids (NFLK) is a group of Canadians with children or grandchildren whose names were erroneously flagged by Canada’s ‘No-Fly List’ or Passenger Protect Program (PPP) under Canada’s Secure Air Travel Act (SATA). NFLK’s sole interest was to ensure that the Charter rights of all Canadians, including those wrongly affected by the PPP, were protected.
In 2016, we discovered that our six-year-old son was considered a high profile passenger under SATA. We tweeted about this, and that tweet thrust us into the national spotlight. Within days, other families started to come forward with stories of their own, some having kids younger than a year old who were impacted by the same situation. Having a common goal of drawing attention and finding a solution to this problem, our group was formed!
We soon discovered that the No-Fly List had been around for about 10 years, was haphazardly put together and relied on airlines, rather than the government, to screen passengers. The momentum necessary to get the government to change the system required the help of many human rights organizations, lawyers and others who had been advocating tirelessly on this issue for almost a decade with little success. One of these organizations was the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG).
At the time, airline personnel could not tell passengers that they were on a list. They had to make a phone call to Public Safety Canada to clear the identified passengers, including infants, before they could board the flight. Sometimes, as the kids got older, they were subjected to invasive security checks, passport confiscations and immigration interrogations which were intimidating and very scary. This issue did not only impact kids. While the government refused to say how many people were on the list, research pointed to thousands of innocent people being affected, including veterans, cabinet ministers, Senators, seniors, students, airline pilots and, mostly, just regular people trying to go about their lives.
We leaned on Monia and Tim and the ICLMG team for guidance, advice and support. The research and expertise they had already put into this issue was invaluable in our various engagements with government officials. From little things, like printing fact sheets for our Day on the Hill, to big things, such as accompanying us to high profile meetings with various Ministers and Senators, including the Senate Committee on Human Rights and many others, they were there with and for us in ways we could never repay.
In 2021, a new and fully functional redress system called the Canadian Travel Number was launched. This system places the no-fly screening mechanism fully into the government’s control, distinguishes multiple people with the same name from each other and, crucially, allows Public Safety to tell parents or guardians that their child’s name is not on the No-Fly List. They are, however, under no obligation to do so, and adults still cannot be informed whether or not they are on the list. A person only learns they are on the list if Public Safety gives the order to deny them boarding their flight, after which they are provided a letter acknowledging they are on the list and how to challenge their listing.
While the optimal solution is for the list to be abolished in its entirety – an opinion we share with the ICLMG – we would not have gotten the above meaningful reforms without the support of this amazing group of people.
Our engagement with the government still continues to this day albeit on a smaller scale. But the advocacy for the civil liberties of all people is still a full-time passion for the team at ICLMG, who continues this relentless pursuit. We have nothing but admiration and gratitude for their work.
Khadija Cajee is the co-founder of No-Fly List Kids and Conquer COVID-19. linkedin.com/in/kcajee
Fighting to Abolish the No-Fly ListBy Tim McSorley ICLMG has opposed Canada’s No-Fly List since its inception in 2007. Over time, we have documented the deep problems with this system, including how it lacks a fair appeal process, allows unregulated information- sharing with foreign entities which can lead to human rights abuses, violates fundamental rights, and leads to racial, religious and political profiling. We’ve done so through research projects like the Information Clearinghouse on Border Controls and Infringements to Travellers’ Rights, which documented the experience of people in Canada dealing with the No-Fly List and other border controls. We have raised the issue in meetings with MPs, ministers and their staff, and highlighted it in multiple legislative briefs to parliament. Our backgrounder on the No-Fly List has consistently been one of the most visited pages on our website. We’ve also worked alongside impacted individuals, including the No-Fly List Kids and others, to advocate for meaningful changes along with the abolishment of the list. Despite its nearly 20 year existence, the government has never conducted a review of the efficiency or impact of the No-Fly List. Like taking off our shoes and emptying bottles of water, it has become an accepted norm at airports despite no proof of positive impact, and troves of evidence of negative outcomes. The result is an anti-terrorism power that should simply be abolished, once and for all. You can read more about the No‑Fly List at: iclmg.ca/issues/canadas‑no‑fly‑list Tim McSorley is the National Coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group |
Since you’re here…… we have a small favour to ask. Here at ICLMG, we are working very hard to protect and promote human rights and civil liberties in the context of the so-called “war on terror” in Canada. We do not receive any financial support from any federal, provincial or municipal governments or political parties. You can become our patron on Patreon and get rewards in exchange for your support. You can give as little as $1/month (that’s only $12/year!) and you can unsubscribe at any time. Any donations will go a long way to support our work. |
