Disclaimer:
The details mentioned below are based on my understanding and research into the issue of inadmissibility under Sections 35(a) and 35(b) of IRPA.
You may want to use the services of a law firm to advise/help you prepare the documentation/evidence to support your request for issue of a TRV considering the above sections.
Could you please provide more information:
a. What is the nature of your visit to Canada? Duration of your visit?
b. Have you traveled to or have you been granted visas to countries where participation/complicity in war crimes would make the visa applicant inadmissible? For eg: US, the UK, etc
c. Could you please give broad details of your position/authority during your tenure in the military? This means were you a senior, high-ranking official during the civil war in Sri Lanka? Or did you rise from the ranks to hold high positions in the military during your service tenure?
d. Were you or your military unit ever involved in armed conflict or did your military unit perpetrate crimes against humanity directly/indirectly?
e. Were you part of any political party and, hence, you may have been politically motivated directly/indirectly in any situation that would make you inadmissible?
f. Can you prove that you/the military unit was not involved in any human rights violation nor subject to international sanctions?
Canada has very stringent laws criminalizing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
According to the IRPA, the definition of *war crimes* is:
a war crime [an act or omission committed during an armed conflict that, at the time and in the place of its commission, constitutes a war crime according to customary international law or conventional international law applicable to armed conflicts, whether or not it constitutes a contravention
of the law in force at the time and in the place of its commission]
Next, the definition of a senior official is:
A prescribed senior official in the service of a government is a person who, by virtue of the position they hold or held, is or was able to exert significant influence on the exercise of government power or is or was able to benefit from their position, and includes:
1. Heads of state or government;
2. Members of the cabinet or governing council;
3. Senior advisors to persons described in Paragraph (a) or (b);
4. Senior members of the public service;
5. Senior members of the military and of the intelligence and internal security services;
6. Ambassadors and senior diplomatic officials; and
7. Members of the judiciary
As per this definition, perhaps you are being considered as *a senior member of the military and of the intelligence and internal security services*. This means someone who holds high position in the military:
1. Who may be aware of or complicit in crimes against humanity committed by the army, or
2. A person in a senior position in a designated government is deemed to have been able to exert “significant influence on the exercise of government power”
Due to the above 2 points, an applicant may be considered to be inadmissible.
Coming back to your case, your service tenure was during the civil war in Sri Lanka. Your tenure was not during peace times. Based on your answers to the questions at the beginning of this post, you could prove that you were not aware of nor were you complicit in war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide.
My understanding is that whether or not a TRV should be granted to you largely depends on the position/authority that you held during your tenure in the military
All the best
