Thank you for the question.
The security screening process is a trilateral program. IRCC is definitely the first line, where we look at individuals before they enter Canada. We screen 100% of all applicants who come into Canada. We have the risk indicator packages we talked about before. I'm happy to go into further detail on those.
Those risk indicator packages are not just for individuals who may be engaged in terrorism. They refer to all serious inadmissibilities in IRPA. Those would include our security inadmissibilities, such as terrorism and being a danger to the security of Canada, or someone who may have engaged in acts of violence that would threaten Canadians. It also includes espionage and subversion of a government, for instance. Other serious inadmissibilities include human or international rights violations, war crimes, or organized or serious crime. The risk indicators cover all of what we call “serious inadmissibilities”, of which terrorism might be one.
Our officers are trained on these risk indicator packages. If they notice a risk indicator on an application—again, that risk indicator is like a clue for the officer that there might be more investigation that needs to be done—they refer it to CBSA and CSIS for comprehensive security screening.
Once CBSA and CSIS complete their screening, they will provide back to IRCC a recommendation from a security screening perspective. That recommendation could be favourable—which means they have not identified a serious inadmissibility—non-favourable—which means they have—or inconclusive. An “inconclusive” requires the officer to gather more information until they can be satisfied and make a final determination.
Thank you.