Canada’s border agency has quietly begun sharing information with U.S. Homeland Security about the thousands of American citizens entering Canada each day to bolster security and help enforce laws.
Shortly Washington is expected to provide Ottawa with similar information about Canadians entering the United States.
The data includes the traveler’s name, nationality, date of birth and gender, the country that issued their travel document and the time, date and location of their crossing.
Canada and the United States agreed to set up co-ordinated systems to track the entry and exit information of travelers, under a 2011 continental security pact.
The government says the information will also focus immigration enforcement on people in Canada, as opposed to those who have already left and help determine entitlement to social benefits, which may require a presence in Canada.