Parliamentary Committee Notes: Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA)
Date: August 2023
Classification: Unclassified
Branch / Agency: CPB
Proposed response:
- People who are caught smuggling firearms should not be allowed into Canada.
- Bill C-21 would transfer policy responsibility for inadmissibility on the basis of transborder criminality to the Minister of Public Safety from the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
- This change would better align related ministerial responsibilities associated with border management, port of entry examinations, and other serious inadmissibility grounds that reside with the Minister of Public Safety.
- It would also allow the CBSA to advance regulatory measures to strengthen Canada’s posture with respect to inadmissibility and the illegal smuggling of firearms and other criminal offences committed upon entry to Canada.
Background:
Strengthening the Admissibility Framework at the Border
Currently under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship has exclusive policy responsibility for inadmissibility due to the commission of criminal offences at ports of entry at the time of entry to Canada (transborder criminality), while the Minister of Public Safety has exclusive policy responsibility for examinations at ports of entry and for inadmissibility on other serious grounds of security, human rights violations, and organized criminality.
Transferring policy responsibility for transborder criminality to the Minister of Public Safety would allow the CBSA to strengthen Canada’s posture with respect to the smuggling of opioids, firearms and other criminal offences upon entry to Canada. The proposed approach would address fragmentation of policy responsibility and ensure greater coherence with respect to immigration enforcement and inadmissibility policies that are applicable exclusively at Canada’s borders.
Contacts:
Prepared by: [REDACTED], Acting Manager, Firearms Policy Division, Crime Prevention Branch, [REDACTED]
Approved by: Talal Dakalbab, Assistant Deputy Minister, Crime Prevention Branch, 613-852-1167
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