Foreign nationals subject to sanctions would be banned from entering Canada under proposed Government legislation adopted in the Senate.

Bill S-8 notably ensures that Russian individuals and entities who have been recently sanctioned due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are inadmissible.

The aim is to prevent people with “disregard for international conventions and basic human rights principles” from coming to Canada, said Senator Peter Harder, who sponsored the bill.

“The bottom line is that Bill S-8 will make it easier to keep human rights violators out of Canada. This is a balanced yet firm approach,” he said during a speech in the Senate.

Specifically, the legislation will allow officials from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to deny visas, and authorize officials from the Canada Border Services Agency to deny entry to sanctioned individuals and remove them from Canada.

“It is important to note that sanctions inadmissibility is the most efficient and effective mechanism to swiftly identify inadmissible persons as early as possible in the travel continuum and to deny their ability to acquire a visa to Canada in the first place,” Senator Harder said.

The legislation must now be adopted in the House of Commons before it can become law.