Parliamentary Committee Notes: RCMP Role in the Immigration Process

Issue

The Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security has expressed its intention to discuss the security screening process in place to review permanent residence and citizenship application to ensure that individuals who have engaged in acts of terror are unable to enter Canada.  It is expected that members of the Committee may enquire specifically on the RCMP’s role in the process.

Proposed Response

Background

The RCMP’s Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services (CCRTIS) maintains the National Repository of Criminal Record (NRCR) information as well as the immigration fingerprint repository. CCRITS also publishes criminal record information submitted by law enforcement partners, including the FBI and INTERPOL, to the RCMP’s Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) system.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is the lead department on all immigration programming and admissibility decisions, and partners with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and other security partners to help with identity verification and criminality screening of IRCC applicants in support of Canada’s immigration programs. Through this process, CCRTIS conducts screening on temporary and permanent residents, including foreign workers, international students, asylum claimants, and visitors. CCRITS also conducts screening in support of citizenship applications. At the request of IRCC, CCRTIS also facilitates requests for international exchanges of information through FBI and INTERPOL.

The RCMP provides information to IRCC in accordance with legislation and the Ministerial Directive concerning the release of criminal record information by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  Notably, key pieces of legislation include:

While initial statements claimed both Eldidis were Canadian citizens, this was later rectified to state that only Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi is a Canadian citizen – his son, Mostafa, does not hold citizenship. The arrests, particularly that of the elder Eldidi, have raised questions as to broad immigration screening failures and led to intense criticism directed toward the Government of Canada—including the RCMP—despite our role in immigration processing being limited to supporting identity verification and criminality screening of applicants against the National Repository of Criminal Records (NRCR). These results, as well as additional screening performed by other security and intelligence partners, are provided to IRCC, as the lead department, for final admissibility decision.

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