OTTAWA - The global aviation authority has quietly told Canada to beef up air security through improved cargo screening and better training programs.
The International Civil Aviation Organization made the recommendations in a confidential audit report delivered to Transport Canada.
"Although certain measures are in place for cargo security, Canada should further develop security controls," says the report obtained by The Canadian Press.
The Montreal-based aviation organization is a United Nations agency created more than 60 years ago to promote a safe and orderly international air travel system.
The audit team reviewed a range of security-related issues concerning airports, passengers, baggage, in-flight measures, cargo and catering services. As part of the exercise, the reviewers studied operations at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.
"The report will be a valuable tool," said Transport Canada spokesman Jacques Dufort. "It's part of the continuous work that goes on to improve security."
Two years ago the federal government announced the international organization's plans to conduct the audit, but did not publicize the results of the examination.
A heavily edited copy of the September 2005 audit report was released under the Access to Information Act.
A complaint to the federal information commissioner helped dislodge the document, requested under the act in February 2006. The Transport Department committed to releasing the audit Jan. 31, but missed that deadline by several days.
Extensive portions of the International Civil Aviation Organization audit report, including numerous recommendations, were withheld from release under provisions of the access law that allow agencies to keep sensitive security information secret.
However, the report says the auditors found:
- Some training programs, such as those for aircraft operators and cargo handling companies, were "not comprehensive and/or not fully developed."
- There were no written requirements to have secure storage areas for mishandled baggage at airports.
Dufort noted the last federal budget included $26 million over two years for the design and pilot testing of an air cargo security initiative.
The audit report echoes the recent concerns of an advisory panel on the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, a federal agency created after 9-11 to make the skies safer.
"Air cargo operations represent a major security gap, perhaps the single most significant gap that has been brought to our attention," the panel said in its December report.
"Air cargo is largely unscreened at present, and this represents a serious vulnerability in the system. Any actual screening of cargo by X-ray or other detection equipment takes place at the discretion of the air carriers."
The panel recommended Transport Canada "accelerate its work" to develop a program for the security screening of aviation cargo.
Air security has been a major preoccupation for policy-makers since terrorists hijacked jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
The Senate national defence and security committee meets Monday to examine Transport Canada's plans for a no-fly list of passengers prohibited from boarding commercial aircraft.
