David J. Karp

Senior Counsel, Office of Legal Policy

Room 4509

Main Justice Building

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.

Washington, DC 20530

May 19, 2008

Dear Mr. Karp,

I am writing you today in regards to the proposed rules changes
involving the *DNA-Sample Collection Under the DNA Fingerprint Act of
2005 and the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.* As a
Canadian Federal elected representative, I will focus my concerns on the
potential impacts these changes would have on Canadians visiting and
working in the United States.

The riding or district I represent, includes the City of Windsor,
Ontario, Canada. The Windsor-Detroit border gateway is the busiest in
North America, with thousands of individuals crossing everyday to work
in each others country, attend educational institutions, visit family
and friends, etc. The gateway also happens to be the most important
trade corridor, in both dollar-value and volume, between the United
States and Canada.

The proposed rules changes that would allow the collection of DNA from
lawful visitors to the United States would be an affront to all
Canadians. Beyond the issues of privacy, innocence, and the
possibilities for tampering and misuse is the traditional standard of
practice between the United States and Canada. The unique relationship
between our two countries is vast and expansive. As has been the case in
previous border and immigration rules enforcement, Canadians have been
granted exemption from any the new procedures, such as fingerprinting at
the border when entering or exiting under the US VISIT program. This has
been the case due to the reciprocal nature and the integrated movement
of people and goods between our countries. An example of this is the
deadline for implementing the identification requirements under the
Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative has been extended twice to ensure
both countries establish another document, beyond a passport, that would
satisfy the prerequisites.

As has been past practice that I have detailed in this letter, I request
that Canadians be exempt from this policy when entering the United
States as visitors or for work purposes. This exemption is to be
extended to Canadians at all crossings or ports of entry.

A comprehensive study of the implementation of this new measure is
needed to reveal the extent of the negative impact this procedure would
have on trade and economic activity between our two countries. These
negative impacts, outlined in other studies of previously proposed
modalities, are one of the rationales for extending Canadians an
exemption to various border and immigration protocols that are
applicable to all other foreign nationals.

Please feel free to contact my office for further information or
clarification.

Sincerely,

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="1.426388888888889in" height="0.65625in"}

Brian Masse, Member of Parliament

Windsor West

**Parliamentary Office**

**Room 701 Justice Building,\
House of Commons\
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0A6  \
Tel: (613) 996-1541\
Fax: (613) 992-5397**

**Constituency Office**

**336-300 Tecumseh Road East, Plaza 300**

**Windsor, Ontario, Canada N9E 3Y2**

**Tel: (519) 255-1631**

**Fax: (519) 255-7913**