The primary law on these matters is in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, whose goals include economic growth, family reunification, and compliance with humanitarian treaties.
As a result of the 1991 Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec gained full selection process for economic migrants within the province's borders.
[1] As of 2023, between 50 and 60 percent of permanent residents born abroad are chosen by Quebec authorities, with the national government selecting the rest.
Individuals who could become a burden on social welfare or health services would now be refused entry, rather than specific categories of people, e.g., those who identified themselves as homosexual, disabled, and so on.
[12] Detainees can include: asylum seekers without sufficient amount of necessary identification papers; foreign workers whose visas had expired; and individuals awaiting deportation.
There are 4 types of exceptions to the STCA: refugee claimants who have a family member in Canada; unaccompanied minors under the age of 18; individuals holding a valid Canadian visa; and those who have been charged with or convicted of an offence that could subject them to the death penalty in the United States or in a third country.
The act renders the CBSA responsible for providing integrated border services that support Canada's national security priorities and that facilitate the free flow of persons and goods (including plants and animals) that meet all requirements under the program legislation.
[40] In mid-2010, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that Jeremy Hinzman, an American soldier seeking asylum, should be allowed to remain in Canada based on his pacifist religious beliefs.
Some have taken issue with the Canada–United States Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), which prevents people from a country that is not Canada or the US who attempt to enter Canada at a legal border crossing seeking refugee status will be turned back, but processes the claims of those who arrive illegally.