2.A Refugees: From Eligibility to Arrival
A.6 How are refugees screened?
(i) What should refugees be screened for to ensure they do not pose security risks?
How Canada Does It
Canada conducts security and criminality screening for all visitors, immigrants, and refugee applicants. As with other permanent residents, refugees can be inadmissible to Canada if they have been convicted of certain crimes, or there are reasonable grounds to believe they have committed or will commit acts that would render them inadmissible to Canada. Security-related grounds for inadmissibility include terrorism, organized crime, being a danger to the security of Canada, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
Sections 34-37 of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) set out the security-related grounds on which refugee applicants can be found to be inadmissible to Canada.
Canada works with Canadian and foreign law enforcement agencies, and security partners such as the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to conduct thorough security screening of refugee applicants.
CSIS is mandated to conduct security screenings through ss. 14-15 of Canada’s CSIS Act, as well as through the IRPA and Citizenship Act. CSIS prepares a report to the Government of Canada with recommendations on whether the person concerned constitutes a threat to the security of Canada. However, the ultimate decision on (in)admissibility in resettlement applications is made by the visa officer, taking the recommendations of the security partners into account.