On Canadian Security Clearance jobs

Got an inquiry from a recruiter in Ottawa about an Embedded Linux job. I asked back for jd and he said that he cannot send it to me unless I have a Secret Clearance(!!!)

There are two not-so-nice things about this:

• One can get a clearance [according to the recruiter] only if sponsored by an employer and only if residing in Ottawa [for this particular job].
• The process to get it is incredibly invasive with one's [private] life -- I may have to account to my siblings', half-siblings' and parents' (to say nothing of their dogs!) travels et whereabouts et employment status as well, eh?

And I thought that being fingerprinted by the US border guards was offensive enough...

-ulianov