SECD – Domestic Information Sharing – February 9, 2026

(Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act)

Key Messages

• As part of Bill C-12, the Government of Canada introduced legislation to improve how client information is shared within Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and with federal, provincial, and territorial government partners.
• The new legislation would facilitate the sharing of immigration, citizenship and passport information with our domestic partners to help improve the integrity of government programs and provide better client service.
• We take privacy seriously and continue to protect the personal information of applicants. All information sharing agreements or arrangements between domestic government partners would be in writing and include strong safeguards to protect people’s privacy and Charter rights.

Current Authorities

• Under existing authorities IRCC can share applicant information with its domestic partners in limited circumstances and, in most cases, needs to complete case-by-case assessments to share this information. IRCC also needs to do these assessments when sharing client information across its own programs (for example, using permanent residence application data to process citizenship applications).
• Creating clear and direct legal authorities would address these gaps, allow information sharing to be proactive and systematic, reduce administrative burdens, and improve the integrity of our programs.

Overview of Changes

• Specifically, amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Act (DCIA):
  • Break down barriers to information sharing between IRCC programs and across business lines to improve integrity and efficiency in the services IRCC provides;
  • Enhance the sharing of identity, status and IRCC-issued document information with federal-provincial/territorial partner programs relying upon this information for the integrity of their respective programs; and
  • Introduce new regulation-making authority to allow IRCC to disclose immigration information for the purpose of cooperation with federal partners in prescribed scenarios.
• The IRPA amendments aim to foster greater cooperation with our federal partners, but information sharing can only begin once new regulations are in place. These will go through the established process—including public and stakeholder consultations—giving Canadians a clear opportunity to help shape the regulations.
• The DCIA changes let us start sharing key identity, status and document-related information with trusted domestic partners once privacy safeguards—such as written agreements or arrangements—are in place. This will help prevent fraud, support public safety, and facilitate newcomer integration and access to programs and services. That said, sharing personal information with law enforcement partners, or sensitive data like biometrics, may raise Charter considerations. In those cases, regulations may be needed to ensure strong privacy safeguards, with civil society input built into the process.
• Despite these expanded authorities, all disclosures will continue to require robust privacy safeguards. Written Information‑Sharing Arrangements or Agreements and Privacy Impact Assessments must be in place prior to any exchange of personal information.

Benefits

• These proposed changes would close gaps in how we share client information, saving time and money. Once privacy safeguards are in place, federal, provincial, and territorial partners would get faster access to this information, which they may use to:
  • Confirm the identity of people who arrived in Canada through the immigration system, which is needed to deliver and give people access to a variety of public services and to support their successful integration into Canada;
  • Detect people defrauding benefit programs and other services by using different identities; and
  • Carry out law- and border-enforcement activities and investigations.
• Similarly, once privacy safeguards are in place—such as Privacy Impact Assessments—IRCC would also be able to share client information across its immigration, citizenship, and passport programs more easily to:
  • Reduce the amount of information that applicants need to resubmit if they have already applied to a different IRCC program;
  • Lower the risk of discrepancies between case files belonging to the same person; and
  • Make decision making for immigration, citizenship, and passport applications more efficient and help us improve the integrity of our programs and better detect fraud.

Privacy Safeguards

• Robust safeguards are put in place relating to the use of the information disclosed by IRCC in order to protect the privacy of IRCC's clients, including a requirement for written agreement or arrangements prior to disclosure and prohibition against onward sharing by provincial or territorial government partners to foreign entities, except with the consent of IRCC and where this would happen in a way that complies with Canada's international obligations in respect of mistreatment, as defined in the Avoiding Complicity in Mistreatment by Foreign Entities Act.

If pressed on why prohibition on provinces and territories (PTs) was added:

• PTs each have their own privacy laws, but international sharing typically requires compliance with federal rules. They cannot typically engage in foreign relations independently—cooperation happens through federal frameworks. The DCIA amendments are consistent with this relationship, and provide an added safeguard by ensuring that any sharing with foreign entities is only done with IRCC’s written consent and where the disclosure complies with Canada’s international obligations in respect of mistreatment as defined in the Avoiding Complicity in Mistreatment by Foreign Entities Act.

Vulnerable People

• The protection of the personal information of clients, especially those who may be vulnerable, is a priority. We would only share personal information with partners who are legally allowed to collect it through clear written agreements or arrangements beforehand. These documents would specify what information can be shared and put limits on how it can be used. Bill C-12 will make our existing safeguards even stronger by making these written agreements or arrangements a legal requirement.
• The proposed legislative amendments do not give other organizations additional powers, such as enforcing immigration laws. PTs decide who is eligible for programs within their jurisdiction.

Sharing with Foreign Entities

• The new authorities are specific to information sharing with domestic partners, specifically federal, provincial and territorial departments, ministries, bodies, agencies, offices and Crown corporations. Under these new authorities, we would disclose personal information only to partners who are legally authorized to collect it.
• They also include strict legal limits that prevent provinces and territories from sharing that information with foreign entities without IRCC’s written approval and prohibit sharing in cases where it would conflict with Canada’s international obligations in respect of mistreatment as defined in the Avoiding Complicity in Mistreatment by Foreign Entities Act.

Complement Document Controls (Bill C-12 Part 7)

• Although they are two separate authorities, the information-sharing authorities would directly support document control authorities. They would allow IRCC to enter into written agreements or arrangements to proactively and systematically disclose any changes, cancellations, or suspensions of immigration documents with our domestic partners. For example, this would help PTs who oversee educational institutions and businesses or industries within their jurisdiction better manage international student caps and worker levels.