Accordingly to a government report released today the airports in Canada do not adequately screen employees for their criminal history:
Members of organized crime and other shady characters are infiltrating Canadian airports because federal officials are not conducting thorough security checks on employees working in restricted areas, says a report that blames Transport Canada and the RCMP for failing to share information. Auditor General Sheila Fraser, in a sweeping assessment of national security, noted that a pass for restricted areas was given to someone who had assault and weapons convictions, and was under investigation for murder relating to drug-smuggling at a large airport. She told a news conference Tuesday that Transport Canada is not devoting its energy to crime, because it doesn't consider rooting out drug smugglers and other criminals to be part of its mandate to prevent harm to airplanes. "Quite frankly, I think Canadians expect more than that," Fraser told reporters. "I think that Canadians would expect the rules for obtaining a security pass would be stringent."
Today's report follows a RCMP report issued last December that "found more than 60 employees at Canada's eight largest airports had criminal links, and many organized-crime groups were found working within or using the airports."
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