Question about a legal point (wording) in the Canadian Refugee Protection Act

[ada_lapadite]

Sorry for the massive quote. Thats part of the Canadian Refugee Protection Act.
The last line, starting with (2), says "regulation made under subsection (1) may include conditions under which the collection, retention, use, disposal and disclosure may be made".
Does this mean that subsection (1) does not include all the regulation under which collection...use... may be made?
In other words, there may be other conditions under which collection...user may be made?
I know that now this point has been updated with the new Refugee Protection Bill. But I'm interested to know about this version (prior to the Refugee Protection Bill).

Thanks



Regulations

150.1 (1) The regulations may provide for any matter relating to

(a) the collection, retention, use, disclosure and disposal of information for the purposes of this Act or for the purposes of program legislation as defined in section 2 of the Canada Border Services Agency Act;

(b) the disclosure of information for the purposes of national security, the defence of Canada or the conduct of international affairs, including the implementation of an agreement or arrangement entered into under section 5 of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Act or section 13 of the Canada Border Services Agency Act; and

(c) the disclosure of information relating to the professional or ethical conduct of a person referred to in any of paragraphs 91(2)(a) to (c) in connection with a proceeding — other than a proceeding before a superior court — or application under this Act to a body that is responsible for governing or investigating that conduct or to a person who is responsible for investigating that conduct, for the purposes of ensuring that persons referred to in those paragraphs offer and provide professional and ethical representation and advice to persons in connection with such proceedings and applications.
Marginal note:Conditions

(2) Regulations made under subsection (1) may include conditions under which the collection, retention, use, disposal and disclosure may be made.

 

[NBaker]

It appears you are quoting from the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the most recent version of which can be found here:

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-2.5/FullText.html

It was last amended 15 Dec 2012 and the entry is up to date as of 31 Dec 2012 so is the law that covers refugee protection in Canada at this time. Not sure from your question which bill you refer to since the changes to IRPA were part of a very large bill which has received Royal assent and come into force.

If you have the actual citation of the bill and dates perhaps that would clarify your question a bit more.

As far as the section quoted it governs information sharing within IRPA and that regulations may be made about that. Other acts may have information sharing provisions that could impact what information is shared and with whom. The Privacy Act and Access to Information Act are two as is the Customs Act that come quickly to mind.

 

[ada_lapadite]

Thanks kindly for your reply.

I'm writing my thesis and what I'm interested in is to study the effect of the new European law that will allow law enforcement to have access to the European Asylum Seekers database. Canada will be my control sample in the sense that, as far as I understand, in Canada asylum seeker's information has always been shared with law enforcement. The dates that I'm interested in are any time before the new regulations that came into force on 15 December 2012.

Were Canadian law enforcement agencies given access to some (at least biometrics) or all information regarding asylum seekers? (that's the first question)

From your answer I understand that it (paragraphs 150.1 of IRPA from before 15 December 2012) applies only to the internal procedures within Immigration Canada. Is that correct? (this is the second question).

 

[NBaker]

You might find the type of information you are looking for through Infosource.

Here are a couple of starting links:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/atip/infosource/pibs.asp#protectedPersons


http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/agency-agence/reports-rapports/pia-efvp/atip-aiprp/infosource-eng.html

The only time collected information is to be shared with law enforcement agencies is if it is consistent with the purpose for which it was collected in accordance with Privacy legislation. One exception would be if there is an active investigation by a law enforcement agency involving an individual that it is believed CIC or the CBSA might have information about. A request must be made in writing to obtain that information by a law enforcement agency.

Other than that information related to biometrics would only be fingerprints which necessarily go to the RCMP who hold fingerprint databases. Any other biometrics sharing could be related to security which would be consistent with the reason it was collected.

Nothing has really changed in this regard before or after 15 Dec 2012 because the Privacy Act/Access to Information Act still govern the release of personal information.