The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Ottawa - New passport photo rules forbidding applicants to smile may be nothing to chuckle at. Privacy experts say the new photos are just the first stage in a process which is paving the way for biometrics - identifiers based on physical traits such as facial features, fingerprints, or even DNA and stored in a computer or on a chip. To get a valid passport, Canadians must now send in two photos with "neutral expressions" - mouth closed, no teeth, no smile. Toronto - Four transsexuals who say the Ontario government's decision to stop funding sex change operations in 1998 left them trapped halfway between the sexes will have their case heard this month. Martine Stonehouse, a support worker with the Toronto school board, said she couldn't afford to finish her transition from male to female after the province removed sex-reassignment surgery from the list of procedures covered by medicare five years ago. Now she and three other transsexuals will go before the Ontario Human Rights Commission to try to force the government to fund and finalize their sexual transformations. Charlottetown - Politicians bearing promises are sprouting faster than spuds on tiny Prince Edward Island where Premier Pat Binns is poised to call an election for Sept. 29. Binns is expected to announce the general election today.
