I was just talking about the international obligations aspect. What I should add to my previous comments is that Canada is a signatory to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, which is a bit of a mouthful.
The main goals of the convention include protecting the best interests of the child, which is one of the principles in the Citizenship Act that the visa officer has to look at in deciding an adoption case. One of the other goals is preventing child abuse, including abuse in the form of child trafficking. That is also something the visa officer has to look at.
When it comes to provincial jurisdiction, the provinces are responsible for adoption matters in their territory, so when the adoptive parent lives in Canada, CIC has to work closely with the province or the territory to ensure their requirements are met. In practice, what this means is that CIC requests a letter from the province or territory—it's called a letter of no objection—and this is the mechanism by which the province is able to let CIC know and confirm that it has assessed that the adoption is in the best interests of the child, that a genuine parent-child relationship has been created, and that the adoption respects both the provincial laws and the laws of the place where the adoption took place. CIC doesn't grant citizenship further to an application until they have received this assurance from the province or territory that the adoption is valid and complete.