Man locked out of public service after 2 years in China
A Gatineau man has learned he can't get the security clearance required for a job in the federal government because he lived in China for two years.
And others who have lived in certain countries overseas may find themselves in the same boat.
Denis Roy spent two years teaching English in China's far north, then returned to Canada to apply for a job as a security guard with the Canadian government.
"They looked at my CV, saw the word 'China' and everything stopped. Merci, bonjour," Roy told CBC's French language service Radio-Canada in French.
The problem is that federal jobs require a security check that probes the job applicant's past five or 10 years, in order to ensure that the employee is loyal to Canada and can be relied upon not to disclose sensitive material to other countries, according to the website for the Canadian Security and Intelligence Agency (CSIS), which conducts the screening.
It may include an electronic search only, may be supplemented by an interview with the applicant, or may even include a full field investigation including local police checks and interviews with friends, neighbours, and employers.
If the person has spent a significant period of time in a country with which Canada doesn't have an agreement to exchange security information, the applicant may be rejected. That holds for people who have spent time in China, as well as North Korea, Russia and certain African countries such as Congo or Ethiopia.
Roy said not being able to work for the federal government is hard for him to accept.
"In the Outaouais region here, it's the big employer," he said.
Public Works and Government Services Canada, the federal department responsible for security checks, declined an interview on this topic.
However, according to former CSIS agent David Harris, the government is right to refuse potential employees from countries such as China.
"When you have a totalitarian country, it's just about impossible to verify what has happened to the individual when he was in the country," Harris told Radio-Canada in French. "It's a deep problem."
University of Montreal criminologist Stéphane Leman-Langlois said the situation is unfortunate, but necessary.
He said even the cleaning staff in areas that contain sensitive information, such as the offices of Revenue Canada, need to be reliable from a security perspective.
At least one job with the federal government remains open to Roy, however.
Members of Parliament do not need to go through the security check
required in the civil service.
A Gatineau man has learned he can't get the security clearance required for a job in the federal government because he lived in China for two years.
And others who have lived in certain countries overseas may find themselves in the same boat.
Denis Roy spent two years teaching English in China's far north, then returned to Canada to apply for a job as a security guard with the Canadian government.
"They looked at my CV, saw the word 'China' and everything stopped. Merci, bonjour," Roy told CBC's French language service Radio-Canada in French.
The problem is that federal jobs require a security check that probes the job applicant's past five or 10 years, in order to ensure that the employee is loyal to Canada and can be relied upon not to disclose sensitive material to other countries, according to the website for the Canadian Security and Intelligence Agency (CSIS), which conducts the screening.
It may include an electronic search only, may be supplemented by an interview with the applicant, or may even include a full field investigation including local police checks and interviews with friends, neighbours, and employers.
If the person has spent a significant period of time in a country with which Canada doesn't have an agreement to exchange security information, the applicant may be rejected. That holds for people who have spent time in China, as well as North Korea, Russia and certain African countries such as Congo or Ethiopia.
Roy said not being able to work for the federal government is hard for him to accept.
"In the Outaouais region here, it's the big employer," he said.
Public Works and Government Services Canada, the federal department responsible for security checks, declined an interview on this topic.
However, according to former CSIS agent David Harris, the government is right to refuse potential employees from countries such as China.
"When you have a totalitarian country, it's just about impossible to verify what has happened to the individual when he was in the country," Harris told Radio-Canada in French. "It's a deep problem."
University of Montreal criminologist Stéphane Leman-Langlois said the situation is unfortunate, but necessary.
He said even the cleaning staff in areas that contain sensitive information, such as the offices of Revenue Canada, need to be reliable from a security perspective.
At least one job with the federal government remains open to Roy, however.
Members of Parliament do not need to go through the security check
required in the civil service.
