The federal Immigration Department between 2014 and 2019 allowed entry into Canada to over 3,300 foreign nationals flagged by the Canada Border Services Agency (
CBSA) as security risks, according to an internal federal audit.
During the five-year span studied in the audit, Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada (
IRCC) gave over
7,670 migration applicants a “non-favourable” recommendation, the CBSA wrote in its “Evaluation of the Immigration National Security Screening Program,” published in February.
The CBSA said non-favourable recommendations are given to applicants for a number of “potential inadmissibility concerns” it may have, which can include “espionage, subversion, terrorism, danger to the security of Canada, membership in an organization that engages in the aforementioned acts, or violence.”
The CBSA also wrote that concerns can arise from knowledge of an applicant’s previous membership in organized crime or for past “crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, sanctions.”
As of June 2020, the IRCC made an admission
decision on just over 7,140 of the applicants who had been flagged as security risks by the CBSA.
Out of those risky applicants, the IRCC allowed entry to 3,314.
The internal audit
said that the immigration department authorizes entry for risky applicants either because it “disagrees” with the CBSA’s “assessment of an applicant’s inadmissibility and decides to approve the application,” or because it receives a “public policy exemption that is based on a National Interest Letter from a federal entity ... which deems that the entry of this person to Canada is in the country’s national interest.”
The IRCC told The Epoch Times in an email on June 22 that certain public policy exemptions have been in place since 2010 to allow migrants “temporary entry to Canada” and also to “advance Canada’s national interests while continuing to ensure the safety of Canadians.”
“The final decision on the inadmissibility of an applicant is made by an immigration officer after carefully reviewing all the documents provided by the applicant,” a department spokesperson wrote.
Inconclusive Applications
The audit said that the vast majority of risky applicants allowed into Canada were permitted entry because of “national interest reasons.”The CBSA also noted that it may issue an “inconclusive finding result” to the IRCC on an individual who is applying for entry. The federal agency said such evaluations are usually given due to missing information or withdrawn applications.
Between 2014 and 2019, the CBSA said it marked 14,290 applications as inconclusive. It added that the IRCC allowed entry to 81 percent of applicants marked as such in that time frame.
“Only 10% were refused,” said the CBSA’s audit. “The remaining applications were withdrawn or were pending decision.”
The audit added that the CBSA “only issues inconclusive results when concerns may exist and cannot be ruled out” and said
IRCC officers often could not request the missing information on applications marked as inconclusive because of “bilateral irritants.”
Furthermore, it said that CBSA “managers and some analysts note that inconclusive screenings should indicate a warning to
IRCC rather than a ‘green light’ to proceed with the application.”
