Time to get a passport
Toronto  Canadians travelling to the United States will be required to show a passport or other so-called “secure document” when crossing the border beginning at the end of 2006, a federal government source confirmed Tuesday.
Canadians will also continue, however, to be the only citizens exempt from a U.S. program that requires foreign visitors to be fingerprinted on entry into the U.S.
“That program is not changing, (and) that's important,” the source said.
“Even with this (passport) scheme being announced, Canadians will be exempt from the fuller scheme.”
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The announcement by the U.S. State Department on new measures for travellers, including Americans themselves returning from Canada and three other countries, was to take place Tuesday at a special briefing in Washington, D.C.
It was not clear what documents other than a passport would be considered acceptable for entry.
The tighter security measures are a consequence of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.
“Both countries have accepted since Sept. 11 heightened use of documentation in border travel,” the source said. “It's certainly something there has been increased acceptance about.”
Neither Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew nor Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan were immediately available to comment.
Alex Swann, a spokesman for Ms. McLellan, said the new measures do not come as a surprise.
“The government of Canada has recognized that documents and document integrity are important in the post-Sept. 11 world,” Mr. Swann said from Ottawa. “Certainly, we discussed this with them in advance.”
The measures will be phased in over the next couple of years, putting an end to flashing a driver's licence or birth certificate at U.S. immigration officials.
“It will be phased in in earlier stages at different ports of entry,” the source said. “The end of 2007 will be the final phase-in period.”
It was not immediately clear whether land or air travellers would have to comply first, starting late next year.
It was also difficult to assess the impact the new measures would have on travellers and waits to cross already busy borders.
“It's too soon to speculate,” the source said. “We have an understanding with the U.S. government that they're going to work with us on implementation.”
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Canadian passport offices have been processing more applications, and issuing more secure passports.
In addition, Canada and the United States have already set up programs whereby low-risk business and other travellers already have secure documents and expedited access across the border.
File photo of a U.S. passport.
North American travelers will see a phased-in requirement to carry passports in the coming years. In a multi-national initiative to restrict illegal immigration and travel, a passport layer of stricter identification will be introduced for travel throughout the continent by the year 2008. The US State Department announced the new American travel rules Monday. 

For the most part, North American citizens can now travel to neighboring countries without formal papers. But starting in December 2005, U.S. citizens travelling by air or sea to or from the Caribbean, Central and South America will need a passport to get back into their native nation. Showing a driver's license or a government-issued photo ID card will no longer be sufficient for making the border crossing back.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that passport restrictions will help keep out "people who want to hurt us." 

Rice made a brief trip on March 10 to meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox before leaving on her Far East tour. The Mexican meeting was to pave the way for a March 23 summit with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Fox at the President Bush ranch in Texas. Issues concerning immigration, border security and water rights were discussed at the meeting. The intent of the summit was to produce a North American initiative that will strengthen security and economic ties.

The passport rules are a result of that summit.

The next phase of the passport requirements begins Dec 2006, when passports for air and sea travel to, or from Mexico and Canada, the Caribbean, Bermuda and US will be required. The final phase involves any travel: whether air, sea or land crossings, passports will be required at borders by Dec 7, 2008.