Archive/File: orgs/canadian/canadian-jewish-congress/marches-to-modems/mtm-005-04
Last-Modified: 1997/03/30

5.5 Customs and Immigration

One of the roles of Revenue Canada - Customs, Excise and
Taxation is to administer the Customs' tariff, which
prohibits the importation into Canada of material considered
to be obscene, treasonable, seditious, hate propaganda, or
child pornography as those terms are treated in the Criminal
Code.

Hate propaganda being imported into Canada can be detained
and or seized by Canada Customs. Upon seizure, Canadian
importers are advised in writing that the material has been
examined and that importation is prohibited. The importer
then has a right to appeal the decision, initially to a
senior Customs officer and then to the applicable Deputy
Minister.

In practice, Revenue Canada - Customs, Excise and Taxation
prints a list of material prohibited by the Importations
Directorate every three months. Included in the list are
numerous publications, including computer diskettes,
magazines, audio and video tapes which are prohibited from
importation to Canada based on their "hate propaganda"
classification. Also any person, not only customs officials
or police, may alert the Prohibited Importations Branch (of
Canada Customs) of material being imported to Canada that
may fall under the "hate propaganda" classification.

Section 19 of the Immigration Act complements customs
regulations by addressing indirectly the need to protect our
borders from foreign citizens who come to Canada for the
purpose of promoting hatred against identifiable groups (see
Appendix J).


Under section 19 there are two potential avenues available
to bar hatemongers from Canada. The first possibility is
bamng admission on the basis of a criminal record. In fact,
a significant proportion of well known hatemongers outside
of Canada have been convicted criminally either for their
hate propaganda activities or other criminal offences
recognized by both the foreign jurisdiction in which they
were convicted and Canadian law. On such a basis,
individuals can be barred from entering Canada.

Individuals can also be barred from Canada if there are
reasonable grounds to believe that they will commit one or
more offences punishable by way of indictment under any Act
of Parliament. For example, a well-known hatemonger from
abroad, scheduled to appear in Toronto for a public address,
could be barred from this country if there were reasonable
grounds to believe the person would violate section 319 of
the Criminal Code. (i.e. willful promotion of hatred against
an identifiable group) while in Canada.

The provisions included in section 319 of the Immigration
Act have been used quite effectively in limiting extreme
hatemongers' access to Canada. In recent years, individuals
such as Holocaust denier David Irving, Khalid Abdul Muhammed
(see Appendix D), Tom Metzger, and hate rock bands have been
barred from the country.

Deportation remains an option in the event such a person is
able to initially evade immigration officials and gain entry
into Canada.

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