The criteria our officers use when making pre-removal risk assessment decisions are set out in the legislation. So it is the same set of criteria that applies to the majority of claimants and that the IRB uses. It has to do with what is considered to be persecution and the Convention Against Torture and
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in terms of section 12 of the charter.
So officers receive requests under the pre-removal risk assessment program, and clients must show the immigration officer that they meet the criteria.
Basically, humanitarian considerations are part of the criteria, which are set out in the legislation, including the best interests of children. The legislation also takes into account hardship, and that is assessed. It is the claimant's responsibility to indicate everything they believe to be a humanitarian consideration, their degree of establishment, their ties to Canada, their difficulty leaving Canada, the existence of a spouse or common-law partner. All of those factors enter into the equation when humanitarian considerations are involved.