Under a new joint Canada-U.S. border security plan both countries will be able to track the movement of cross-border travellers to crack down on citizenship fraud, illegal immigrants and war criminals living in North America.
But the new 32-point border plan, which will be signed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama next week, is also raising privacy concerns over the amount of information that will be shared.
CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife said the new arrangement will mean a greatly increased level of information will be exchanged daily between the two countries.
"What is going to be new is that every time someone comes into Canada or leaves they will be marked coming in or going out so we'll know exactly where they are," Fife told CTV's Canada AM.
"It will be the same when you enter the United States. If you go to the United States and show your passport to the Americans it will show that you've entered, they will send that information back to Canada and the same when you've exited."
Part of the goal, Fife said, is to keep better tabs on people who obtain landed immigrant status in Canada but then return to their home country to live, while still collecting Canadian benefits such as health coverage.
The system will also help Ottawa track the roughly 40,000 illegal immigrants currently believed to be living in Canada, as well as potential terrorists and war criminals.
However, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart is concerned about the amount of information that will be shared -- particularly since she hasn't been consulted on the project, Fife said.
Because thousands of people cross the Canada-U.S. border each day, vast volumes of information will potentially be sent back and forth between the two countries every day.
Fife said Stoddard has indicated she would want strict limits placed on the type of information that can be shared with U.S. customs and immigration officials.
Under the current proposal border officials would be able to send additional information about the subject if security concerns were raised.
"They'll be able to pass that additional info on to the U.S. and vice-versa and this is the grey area where the privacy commissioner wants to make sure there are strict controls over how this information is shared," Fife said.
Currently each country's border keeps a record of those who enter or leave, but that information isn't automatically shared.
In past public comments, Stoddart has made it clear that Canadian sovereignty and privacy rights must be protected.
"Rather than jumping into a newly defined relationship with both feet, we should only do so with both eyes wide open," Stoddart wrote on her blog recently.
The federal government insists there is little to worry about.
"When I go to the United States today, you have to provide your home, your birth date, your passport information, your travel information," said Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. "Whenever we look at security, we keep in mind privacy concerns are tremendously important to Canadians, and that's something we feel very strongly about."
In exchange for more information about travelers crossing the border from Canada, Washington has responded to a chief Canadian gripe about cross-border traffic: gridlock.
Along with security, parts of the new border plan will focus on trade, including pre-screening stations set up on Canadian territory, meaning less congestion at the actual border crossing.
Under the terms of the new deal, the U.S. will move to cut down on traffic at border crossings and allow pre-screenings on certain low-risk cargo trucks. In an effort to speed the process, U.S. officials will only flag suspicious vehicles at the border rather than doing full inspections that hold up other passengers and cargo.
The 32-point plan also features more than just new border-crossing protocols.
In fact, both nations plan to streamline and harmonize regulations in the automotive and food sectors.
In particular, Ottawa has already quietly prepared regulations to adopt U.S. crash-testing standards for seat belts and built-in child booster seats.
