Opposition parties are looking for assurances the United States will follow through on a promise to exempt foreign-born Canadians from controversial border regulations.

Washington says it will no longer fingerprint and photograph Canadian citizens born in the Mideast when they try to enter the United States. The NDP says there are still no guarantees the discrimination will end.

For his part, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham says he has received assurances from the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci.

In addition, Graham said Cellucci was told by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell that "all Canadians will be treated as Canadians when travelling on Canadian passports."

"I wish to report to the House today that I spoke to Mr. Cellucci just before I came here. He informed me that in the future Canadians carrying Canadian passports will not be treated any differently depending on where they were born or for any reason whatsoever," Graham said Thursday.

A formal announcement from the United States is expected to be delivered Friday after several days of heated debate.

Earlier, Ottawa had issued an advisory to Canadian citizens born in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Sudan about travelling to the U.S. The Americans introduced new security measures on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The U.S. National Security Entry Exit Registration System (NSEERS), authorizes the Immigration and Naturalization Service to keep track of the arrival and departure of non-immigrants to the U.S. Under the system, such travellers must have their entry into and exit out of the U.S. verified.

U.S. officials argued that the new regulations were needed to prevent a repeat of the attacks, and to ensure terrorists don't take advantage of Canada's close ties to the U.S.

Toronto resident Samira Mohyeddi, who experienced the new border rules first-hand, said the U.S. discriminated against her and other visible minorities.

On Oct. 3, Mohyeddi, her mother and her brother arrived in Washington, D.C. from Toronto for a visit. Upon arrival at the airport, she and her mother -- both born in Iran -- were fingerprinted and had their pictures scanned into a computer.

"What I found strange was I asked the woman if this was because of 9/11 and what happened. She said 'Yes' and I said 'Well, nobody on those flights were Iranian,'" Mohyeddi said.

Riad Saloojee, a spokesperson with the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada, said the American law violated human rights.

"The Americans are supposed to focus on security but the way in which we do that has to be in a reasonable, law abiding way," Saloojee told CTV in an interview. "These types of measures don't create security. They, in fact, bring the justice system into disrepute."