#211 - Security Screening for Transnational Repression, with Retired CSIS Analyst Phil Gurski

Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff are again joined by retired CSIS analyst Phil Gurski, this time to unpack the growing issue of transnational repression in Canada.

Drawing on Phil’s recent report for the Montreal Institute for Global Security, the conversation explores how foreign states monitor, intimidate, and coerce individuals on Canadian soil, often targeting diaspora communities through surveillance, threats, and pressure on family members abroad.

The discussion focuses on how these activities intersect with Canadian immigration law, including:

Whether transnational repression fits within existing inadmissibility categories like espionage and subversion

The challenge of defining “national security” in immigration decisions

The tension between protecting victims and finding them inadmissible

The role of proxies, including organized crime, in carrying out foreign state objectives

Why police responses often fall short when conduct doesn’t clearly meet national security thresholds

Key Topics & Timestamps:

01:30 – What is transnational repression?

10:00 – Immigration law and inadmissibility challenges

26:00 – What is “national security” in law?

30:30 – When repression becomes a national security issue

Further Reading: https://migsinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Transnational-repression-in-Canada_MIGS.pdf

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