At the height of concerns about foreign interference in 2023, Canada’s spy agency began adding blanket warnings to assessments of foreign nationals seeking security clearance to work for the federal government.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) began by alerting federal departments to China’s national security laws, which allow Beijing to compel Chinese citizens to provide information to the state.
The spy agency expanded the warnings to include an undisclosed number of other countries, attaching general warnings to foreign nationals applying to work in sensitive positions with the federal government.
An independent federal review agency is now warning that the practice risks stereotyping foreign nationals and denying them federal jobs based on their country of origin — but CSIS says they will continue to include “Statements of Non-Canadian Citizens” in their security screening process.
In a recently released report, the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) warned that CSIS risks biasing departments against clearing aliens who do not pose a threat to national security.
“Integrated into the person’s security assessment, the brief is not commissioned to the individual. It contains information related to the threat to the country of the individual’s citizenship that is the only link between the individual and the country,” the agency wrote.
“No further information or analysis is included to tailor the information to the individual security clearance applicant.”
Get daily national news
Get Canada’s daily news delivered to your inbox so you never miss the top news of the day.
As of 2025, foreign nationals who are not Canadian citizens are no longer eligible to obtain a top or enhanced secret clearance, NSIRA noted. So the CSIS “Statements for Non-Canadian Citizens” only apply to applicants for “secret” or “site access” clearances.
Paul Champ, a human rights and labor lawyer based in Ottawa, has represented clients who have been denied employment for failing to obtain security clearances.
In an ongoing case, Champ said his client had worked for the U.N., dealing with highly sensitive material for years, but Global Affairs Canada denied his request for higher clearance.
Champ claims this was based on his client’s country of origin.
“I think it’s a problem. Canada, we’re definitely a pluralistic society and democracy … but the reality is, if you weren’t born here, you’re always suspect in some way when it comes to employment with the federal government,” Champ said in an interview Friday.
CSIS did not say how many of those applicants were cleared by the departments and agencies ultimately responsible for granting or denying security clearance.
But the spy agency disagreed with NSIRA’s warning, calling their country-specific warnings “fact-based information about national security risks associated with certain countries.”
“CSIS’s country-specific summaries are designed to reflect the current threat landscape, without bias or discrimination, and are updated regularly to ensure they accurately capture emerging risks and threats,” the agency wrote in response.
“Security assessments are only one component of the sources of information that a government department may consider in its decision-making process for a security clearance application.”
Country-specific warnings began in 2023 with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Despite Prime Minister Mark Carney’s efforts in Beijing to improve diplomatic and trade relations, the PRC has long been viewed by the Canadian intelligence community as the country’s greatest national security threat.
This threat includes foreign interference and influence campaigns, economic espionage, and more traditional forms of espionage that would interest CSIS in the security clearance process.
Under the PRC’s broad national intelligence laws, Chinese nationals can be urged to provide information to Beijing. The PRC has also been accused of using friends and family still in China to force migrants to work for the state.
But since 2023, CSIS has expanded its intelligence to include an undisclosed number of other countries that do not cite similar national security laws, NSIRA noted.
While the summary says that CSIS “has not identified specific negative or threat-related information about the subject,” they continue that the individual “may be at risk of being incited to cooperate with a hostile foreign state in a manner that poses a threat to the security of Canada,” NSIRA reported.
“The fact that a certain country of origin might be viewed as suspicious … that’s OK, we understand that. But it just means that (CSIS) has to be thoughtful and intentional in terms of looking at other collateral sources (to assess) credibility,” Champ said.
“If you don’t, you’re basically saying ‘we have a discriminatory policy.'”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
