Are You Considered a Threat to Canadian National Security?
How do courts define espionage or subversion under Canadian immigration law? According to the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada, espionage is simply and broadly defined as a method of information gathering by spying or by acting in a covert way, and that subversion connotes accomplishing change by illicit means or for improper purposes related to an organization. Thus, in the decision Qu v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship & Immigration), [2001] F.C.J. No. 1945, 18 Imm. L.R. (3d) 288, [2002] 3 F.C. 3 (F.C.A.), the applicant had provided information to officials of the Chinese embassy in Ottawa concerning the activities of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association. The visa officer concluded that the applicant was inadmissible in Canada pursuant to s. 19(1)(f)(i) of the Immigration Act in that he had engaged in acts of espionage and subversion against Canadian democratic institutions, namely the Chinese Students and Scholars Association.
In Peer v. Canada, (Minister of Citizenship & Immigration), [2010] F.C.J. No. 916, 2010 FC 752 (F.C.), affd [2011] F.C.J. No. 338, 2011 FCA 91 (F.C.A.), the applicant was a citizen of Pakistan married to a Canadian citizen, and had three Canadian born children. In Pakistan, he hard worker for various Pakistani intelligence entities but argued that he only conducted domestic intelligence gathering activities and had no malicious intent. The individual was found inadmissible to Canada for engaging in espionage on the basis that he worked for institutions involved in intelligence and counter-intelligence activities targeted at governments, including Canada.
Smit LeSieur is a well-regarded Toronto based full-service law firm. Areas of practice include privacy and data protection, cybersecurity, immigration, corporate commercial, Internet and e-commerce, marketing and advertising, access to information, media and entertainment, and more. Visit us at http://www.smitlesieur.com for further information about our firm.
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