Hon. Sean Fraser, P.C., M.P., Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship: First of all, the experience this woman has had is completely unacceptable. Sexual violence, particularly against women, is an absolute scourge on our society. Frankly, I think that, as men, we need to do whatever we can to encourage men and boys not to be bystanders and witness the kind of behaviour that allows people to transform into these perpetrators of sexual violence.

There should be a criminal record check. I need to dig into the specifics of this individual case. I’m reticent to comment about it, not being aware of the application process of this particular individual.

When it comes to decisions that are taken by the court, senator, I think you will appreciate that they are completely independent of what the government would do. From my perspective, serious criminality is justification to have a temporary resident — under whichever stream they may have used to enter Canada — deported from Canada. In my view, it’s enough to prevent them from arriving in the first place.

To the extent that you would like to follow up with our team to have us dig more deeply into the individual facts of this case, perhaps that is something we can take a look at.

With respect to serious criminality, that is certainly grounds for being denied entry to Canada. I don’t have before me the specific facts on the file of this individual case. What is most important is that we believe and support survivors of sexualized violence and ensure we continue to put tools in place to prevent this kind of thing from ever happening.

Hon. Percy E. Downe: Minister, thank you again for taking some questions. As reported in the P.E.I. Guardian newspaper, at 9 a.m. on September 11, 2021, a young woman walked into a Staples store in Charlottetown and spoke to an employee about buying a desk. After a discussion, she walked away and continued shopping in another aisle. She was followed by the employee and sexually assaulted. The employee was in Canada under a study permit issued by your department. The international student was charged and pleaded guilty to sexual assault.

It appears from the website of your department that only if you self-declare a criminal record on your application for a study permit is any confirmation of your police or court record required. Minister, is a criminal conviction background check conducted for all applicants for a study permit in Canada?