Questions from Canadians’ Views Towards a National ID Card and Biometrics: Final Quantitative Findings, Ekos Research Associates, March 31, 2003.
1. | In your opinion, do you feel that there are too many, too few or about the right number of immigrants coming to Canada? |
2. | Forgetting about the overall number of immigrants coming to Canada, of those who come would you say there are too many, too few or the right amount who are members of visible minorities? |
3. | I feel I have less personal privacy in my daily life than I did five years ago. Disagree? Agree? Neither? |
4. | Do you support of oppose the idea of the federal government issuing voluntary/mandatory ID cards to Canadians? |
5. | What if a new national ID card contained a copy of the cardholder’s fingerprint or eye scan to ensure that the card could not be used by anyone else? Would you support or oppose the idea of the federal government issuing voluntary/mandatory ID cards to Canadians? |
6. | How serious a problem do you think the fraudulent use of identity documents is in Canada? Not serious? Moderately serious? Very Serious? |
7. | What, if anything, does the term biometrics mean to you? |
8. | Biometrics is the use of a person’s permanent physical characteristics, such as eye or fingerprint patterns to verify their identity. Before this survey, have you ever read or heard about biometrics? Where did you hear or read about biometrics? |
9. | Do you generally support or oppose the use of biometrics by the federal government as a way of reducing the fraudulent use of identification documents? |
10. | I am going to read a number of statements about the potential benefits and drawbacks of using biometrics in Canada. Please rate the degree to which you agree with each: |
• | Will make it much harder for illegal migrants to use fake ID |
• | Will reduce the abuse of government programs |
• | Just makes sense to have one universal identification document |
• | Will make it much easier for Canadians to enter the U.S. |
• | Will make it much harder for terrorists to enter Canada |
• | Will make it much harder for terrorists to operate within Canada |
• | Will greatly reduce personal privacy/gov’t able to track your movements |
• | The cost to taxpayers of implementing this will be too high |
• | Will not work because criminals will find a way around this technology |
• | The potential for government to misuse the information is too high |
• | It goes against our basic Canadian values of freedom and fairness |
11. | How acceptable do you feel it would be to require that biometrics be used to verify a person’s identity in each of the following situations: |
• | As part of each Canadian passport |
• | Screen job applicants with access to sensitive info./work with children |
• | For all airport check-ins |
• | To prevent people from abusing government programs |
• | To speed-up the entry of travellers at the border |
• | To increase the security of credit card transactions |
• | To facilitate access to government programs and services |
• | For entry into major government buildings and facilities |
• | In order to obtain a driver’s licence |
• | To make transaction at ATMs more secure |
12. | If a biometric were used in these situations, how confident would you be that this technique would not be misused in ways that would threaten legitimate privacy? Not confident at all? Not very confident? Somewhat confident? Very confident? |
13. | Given the growing concerns about verifying the identity of persons, how likely do you think it is that, by the end of this decade, almost every Canadian adult will have at least one biometric ID somewhere to verify their identity? Not likely at all? Not very likely? Somewhat likely? Very likely? |