In the fight against international crime, any state must balance the freedom of its citizens against their security. As public anxiety ebbs and flows, policies tend naturally to swing from one extreme to the other.
More than a decade after 9/11, one might think the pendulum would have begun to make its way back toward personal freedom, but news that emerged from Ottawa this week suggests that, in Canada at least, it is still headed steadily in the other direction.
On Monday, the CBC reported the Canada Border Services Agency had quietly set into motion a plan to eavesdrop on travellers at airports and border crossings in an effort to weed out smugglers and other ne'erdowells. Canada's privacy commissioner, learning of it after the fact, was understandably incensed.
It is difficult to imagine something more intrusive than having border agents listen in on private conversations while families wait to pass through a security check. How many innocent comments would result in unnecessary searches and delays?
As alarming as it is, this initiative is just the latest in a long line of increasingly draconian policy changes made in the name of security. The past decade has seen everything from bans on liquids to tighter passport rules to more firearms at borders, with impacts ranging from annoyance to serious economic harm.
Eavesdropping is just the most extreme extension of this trend. Perhaps it is time our government took a hard look at what it is doing at our borders, and asked itself where the tradeoffs have been too great. And, moreover, is it even achieving the desired goal of making Canada safer.
