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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.

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【多伦多信息港】加拿大魁北克省嘉堤诺市男子罗埃因曾在中国工作两年，无法通过安全调查，申请联邦政府工作因此被拒。像他这样的例子并非少数。

罗埃今天接受法语“加拿大广播公司”访问时表示，他曾在中国北方教英文两年。最近返回加拿大，并申请联邦政府安全警卫工作。

罗埃说，联邦政府在看了他的履历表，发现他曾在中国工作两年后，一切便无下闻了。

根据加拿大法律，申请联邦政府工作者，必须接受安全调查，调查范围包括申请者过去五至十年的工作经历，以确保被聘用后，能对加拿大忠诚并无虞将联邦政府机密透露给外国。从事此项调查工作的单位为加拿大情报局。

情报局为作申请联邦政府工作者的背景调查还可访谈申请者的朋友，邻居及前雇主。如果申请联邦政府工作者曾在与加拿大无情报交换国家工作相当长的时间，他的申请有可能被拒。这些国家包括中国，北韩，俄罗斯和一些特定的非洲国家如刚果及衣索匹亚。

罗埃说，他不能为联邦政府工作是无法接受的事情，因为在他居住的地区，联邦政府是最大的雇主。

负责联邦政府雇员聘用的工务暨政府服务部拒对罗埃案例发言。但加拿大情报局前职员哈利斯表示，联邦政府拒绝聘用曾在类似中国这样国家工作过的人是正确的作法。

哈利斯表示，在一个极权国家工作过的人，加拿大政府根本无法调查其背景。

蒙特娄大学犯罪学教授李曼也表示，罗埃的遭遇虽然不幸，但政府这样做乃属必需。李曼说，从安全角度而言，在加拿大国税局工作的清洁工，都需要通过忠诚调查。

罗埃虽申请联邦政府工作不成，但他还可以申请国会工作。因为国会工作不需要经过安全背景调查。

圆明园

this is ludicrous

沙粒

前两天看到这则新闻，感觉。。。

2dian

西方国家对这些国家偏见很大。