Canadian airports and border crossings are being prepped for surveillance equipment that will be powerful enough to pick up and record spoken conversations.
The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) has said the equipment will be used in part to combat organized crime and smuggling at Canada’s largest airports.
A spokesperson for the CBSA has written to reporters to say the equipment is not yet recording but will be in the future.
A statement from the agency says audio-video monitoring and recording is already in place at unidentified airports and borders.
The addition of audio recording is new and has the union representing CBSA workers at the Ottawa airport concerned employees will be monitored and their recorded remarks will become part of their official employee record.
The equipment installations follow a 2009 change to Canada’s Customs Act that allowed customs controlled areas to be created within airports in major cities, with expanded powers for the CBSA to question, examine, and search airport employees.
That move came after repeated reports that Canadian airports had been infiltrated by organized criminal groups. A 2008 RCMP report said 58 crime groups were active at major airports in the country.
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