OTTAWA (AP) -- Canadian travelers may soon have to provide proof of their birthdates before boarding an airplane to help screen out suspected terrorists.
National security adviser William Elliott says knowing when a person was born is one of the best ways for officials to match a passenger with a name on a watch list.
Elliott, who provides advice to the prime minister, told a security conference Wednesday the government is wrestling with the privacy implications of requiring people to hand over the information.
''Perhaps that's a price we need to pay in order to respond to the security environment in which we find ourselves,'' Elliott said during the symposium hosted by the Conference Board of Canada.
Governments have focused on trying to improve air security _ from passenger screening to cargo inspection _ since the terrorist hijackings of Sept. 11, 2001.
Currently some Canadian airlines demand photo identification from passengers, but it's not mandatory. And it may not include the person's birthdate.
A number of travelers have been mistaken for others with the same name who are considered genuine security threats. Even U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy has been stopped by airport screeners.
Sheila Fraser, the Canadian auditor general, found last March that watch lists used to screen visa applicants, refugee claimants and travelers seeking to enter Canada were in disarray because of inaccuracies and shoddy updating.
