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The settlement impacts doubtlessly thousands and thousands of everlasting residents in Canada and much more within the U.S.
Printed Jan 15, 2025 • Final up to date 10 minutes in the past • 3 minute learn
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Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller takes questions from reporters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Nov. 26, 2024. Photograph by Justin Tang/The Canadian Press/File
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OTTAWA — Prime immigration legal professionals say it’s “shocking” that the federal authorities quietly signed a brand new cope with the U.S. authorities that robotically trades troves of non-public knowledge of thousands and thousands of everlasting residents in both nation once they attempt to cross the U.S.-Canada border.
In July, the U.S. and Canadian authorities quietly made a significant change to a 2014 settlement that licensed the automated sharing of non-public info between each international locations of non-residents who utilized for visas.
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In keeping with an up to date settlement quietly tabled in Parliament in October, the brand new deal provides everlasting residents to the listing of people whose private info would robotically be despatched to both authorities in the event that they tried to cross the U.S.-Canada border.
The up to date settlement, which was signed in July however got here into pressure this month, impacts doubtlessly thousands and thousands of everlasting residents in Canada and much more within the U.S. in the event that they determine to use for a visa to go to both nation.
In an announcement, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) spokesperson Jeffrey MacDonald mentioned that info sharing between the U.S. and Canada “strengthens visitor screening and supports managed migration.”
“The Government of Canada will be authorized to use biographic or biometric information of U.S. permanent residents (PR) making an immigration application to Canada to query and obtain information concerning their immigration history with the U.S,” MacDonald wrote.
“Likewise, the U.S. will be authorized to use biographic or biometric information of Canadian PRs making an immigration application to the U.S. to query and obtain information concerning their immigration history with Canada,” he added.
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In keeping with a authorities web site, the knowledge being shared ranges from a visa applicant’s private info, image, fingerprint and immigration historical past.
However the adjustments have been stored quiet by the Canadian authorities till a short point out by Immigration Minister Marc Miller throughout a press convention Wednesday, elevating important considerations amongst immigration legal professionals as to why the main change was stored quiet for therefore lengthy.
Miller denied that he had signed the deal in secret and admitted that lots of people can be impacted by the change. However he argued that the addition of everlasting residents was within the U.S. and Canada’s “mutual interest” within the context of President-elect Donald Trump’s complaints about security on the northern border.
“If people want to travel the border, the welcoming country needs to have the expectation that they can get a sense of whether that person is traveling the border for the reasons that they’re doing that,” he mentioned Wednesday.
“Sharing information on permanent residents traveling across the border allows for a managed flow of information on both sides.”
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Three legal professionals solely discovered in regards to the main adjustments once they have been requested to touch upon the up to date deal by Ontario Chronicle this fall.
“This is deliberately opaque,” mentioned Mario Bellissimo, a Toronto-based immigration lawyer and chair of the Canadian Bar Affiliation’ Nationwide Immigration Regulation Part.
“I could come up with hundreds of questions I’d want to ask, and the fact that we didn’t have that opportunity, or, individuals, not just in the immigration space, but just generally, were not asked. That’s just shocking,” he added.
In an interview this fall, immigration lawyer David Garson mentioned the addition of everlasting residents to the knowledge sharing regime is as regarding to him as the dearth of disclosure for months by the Canadian authorities.
“There’s a heightened sense of security, we live in a dangerous world and I’m assuming that the U.S. is just looking for any scrap of information they can in the world,” he mentioned.
“But there is a privacy issue, of course. If I’m a permanent resident of Canada… and you’re giving my information to another country, that is concerning to me. And there’s no doubt it’s concerning,” he added.
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Bellissimo additionally famous that there seem to have been no actual privateness checks by the Canadian authorities earlier than altering the cope with the U.S.
“They’re going to come back and say, ‘no, this is just basic information collection just to ensure people’s identity’. But where’s the assurances that that is the case? No algorithmic impact assessment, no privacy impact assessment, nothing,” Bellissimo mentioned.
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