Privacy questions linger as new Canada-U.S. terror list sharing kicks in
OTTAWA — Canada and the United States have begun sharing information about suspected terrorists under a revamped agreement even though the federal privacy watchdog is still studying the possible risks for Canadians.
Privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien recently received a federal assessment of the new version of the program known as Tuscan, short for Tipoff U.S./Canada, to gauge its implications for sensitive personal data.
Established in 1997, Tuscan is a U.S. list of names and other basic information about known or suspected terrorists. It has long been shared with Canadian border and immigration officers who compare the names of people arriving in, or applying to come to, Canada against the roster.
Information sharing was a focus of discussion in March 2016 when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met then-U.S. president Barack Obama in Washington.