The brilliant Aliya Bhatia and I wrote an op-ed in The Toronto Star about the recent news that CBSA secretly used facial recognition technology at Terminal 3 at Toronto Pearson Airport.
We know FRT has greater error rates for racialized people and women. Its emerging use is dangerous, from shopping and concerts to housing and banking. It is especially harmful in immigration enforcement and for PoC, and we argue that CBSA should stop using it as it violates our human rights. But everyone should know, CBSA’s 2016 pilot project is just the beginning: under the justification of COVID-19, CBSA is planning to set up an “Office of Biometrics”.
“As a recent statement by McGill University puts it, “facial recognition is inescapable, invisible, and ubiquitous, making it the most invasive surveillance mechanism ever invented.” The government of Canada should heed these harms and stop the use of FRT if it truly cares about being the ‘multicultural’ country it purports to be.”