When Liberal MP Vince Gasparro, the parliamentary secretary for combating crime, announced Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap is banned from entering Canada, he cited a U.K. terror-related charge for one member that has since been dropped.
But neither Gasparro or any officials reached by CBC News have been able to explain what that dismissal means for the group’s ability to travel to this country.
“Any statement I’ve made, there’s nothing more for me to add in terms of my video,” Gasparro told journalists on Friday when asked if Kneecap can now come here because of the dropped charge. “Any further comment I’m going to leave to the officials at Immigration and they will manage that accordingly.”
Gasparro also said he made the video “based on the information that was available, but look, in terms of the actual commentary, I have nothing further to add.”
CBC News has learned he gave no heads up to the offices of the public safety minister or the privacy commissioner of Canada, before he posted the video.
A federal source with knowledge of the situation told CBC News the public safety minister’s office only found out about the situation once Gasparro posted the video. The source spoke on condition they not be named, as they were not authorized to publicly comment on the situation.
“I heard about it when it came out,” the source said.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Vito Pilieci, said in a statement “the OPC was not engaged in this matter.”
Canada’s Privacy Act says the head of a government institution should notify the privacy commissioner in writing, in advance of a planned disclosure of someone’s private information, if “the public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs any invasion of privacy that could result from the disclosure.”
However, Pilieci also said the legislation does not apply to MPs or senators “acting in their capacity as parliamentarians.”
On his social media post last week, Gasparro said he was making the announcement “on behalf of the Government of Canada” and “on the advice of our officials.”
In the video attached to the post, he also cited his title as parliamentary secretary for combating crime, and made a reference to how one member of Kneecap, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was at the time facing a terrorism charge in the U.K. after allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag onstage at a November 2024 gig in London.
Earlier this week, Dan Lambert, the band manager for Kneecap, said in an interview the group had received no official notification that it was banned from entering this country.
Over the course of the week, government or departmental officials have been unable to confirm or deny whether Kneecap was actually banned, citing privacy reasons.
Officials either do not have an explanation, or won’t provide one, citing privacy
A London court ruled on Friday that Ó hAnnaidh was charged too late with the terrorism offence, throwing out his prosecution.
Officials at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) have continued to point to privacy in the wake of the charge against Chara being dropped.
Immigration Minister Lena Diab also said she cannot speak about individual cases.
When asked by CBC News whether Gasparro notified her office about his plans to publish a video, she said, “You will have to speak to him.”
On Friday, CBC journalists in London following Prime Minister Mark Carney on his overseas trip also asked about Kneecap to Ralph Goodale, Canada’s high commissioner to the U.K.
“I do not know the technical consequences of the legal judgment,” Goodale said. “I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. But I’m sure the appropriate officials in Public Safety Canada will be taking a closer look.”
Case for keeping Kneecap out weak: privacy, immigration experts
Legal experts interviewed by CBC News did not all agree on whether Gasparro’s video breached privacy legislation, but they said the case for keeping the group out of Canada was tenuous.
“To be frank, it’s almost unheard of for the government, particularly for the minister of citizenship and immigration to personally authorize the disclosure of an outcome of an application itself,” said Andrew Koltun, an immigration and privacy lawyer with Koltun Law in Jordan, Ont.
He said Gasparro may have breached the privacy legislation if he learned of a decision not as an MP, “but as someone who is being directly briefed on the matter by IRCC,” calling that a “grey area” where it is unclear if the act applies or not.
“Should the Privacy Act be amended to protect individuals from MPs gaining access to their file and then making declarations that are very clearly not in the privacy interests of individuals?” he said.
Koltun also said the dismissal of the U.K. charge may also help the band.
“Once that charge disappears, the individual has largely established their onus of innocence,” Koltun said.
However, he also said Canada’s existing Immigration and Refugee Protection Act gives the government a wide berth in denying entry. He said officials could even revisit the flag-waving incident, independent of any decision by foreign courts.
Immigration lawyer Aidan Simardone said bans typically are announced in letters to applicants, not as videos on social media.
“That letter is really important, because, once we get that, we can actually — if we don’t like the outcome — we can try to work towards a judicial review if we think the decision is unreasonable,” he said.
“When serious decisions by bureaucrats are made that can affect someone’s life, we have the ability to review it. But without that decision, without that letter, this puts [the band] in a really tricky position,” Simardone said.
Privacy lawyer Brent Arnold said he was not sure privacy law has been breached, since the incident of Mo Chara waving a flag has been widely publicized.
“Privacy reasons are a fig leaf people often hide behind when they don’t know the answer to a question that’s been put to them,” he said.
“It’s also possible that there’s been a lack of alignment within the government, taking their stance on this ban,” he said. “And maybe that’s partly what you’re seeing is some scrambling to figure out, OK, was a decision taken? Who took it? Who was supposed to speak about it in the first place?”
