Summary of the Canadian Immigration Act: Hate Provisions
Canada’s Immigration Act provides a legal framework for determining who may or may not enter the country. Foreign citizens who seek access to Canada for the purpose of promoting hatred against identifiable groups (hatemongers) can be barred from Canada under the Act. It can also be invoked to deport such people.
Section 19 of the Immigration Act provides measures that can be deployed to protect Canada from hatemongers. Persons can be denied entrance into Canada:
on the basis of their criminal record
if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they will commit a punishable offence.
Many well-known hatemongers outside of Canada have already been convicted for their hate propaganda activities or other criminal offences, which are recognized by both Canadian law and the foreign jurisdiction in which they were convicted. On that basis, individuals can be barred from entering Canada.
In cases where people are denied entry into the country, there are usually reasonable grounds to assume that while in Canada, the individual would violate section 319 of the Criminal Code by wilfully promoting hatred against an identifiable group.
The section 19 provisions of the Immigration Act have been effective in keeping extreme hatemongers out of Canada. Recently, people such as Holocaust denier David Irving, neo-Nazi Tom Metzger, and various hate rock bands have been barred from entering the country.
