Re-entering Canada after minor contact with the police there

Question

I am an international student in Canada on a student visa and TRV. I am travelling back home now and will come back to Canada next month. I had a small issue while in Canada where I was in contact with the police because of a complaint against me. It wasn't a criminal offence, just some carelessness. I was never charged, warned, or convicted. There was a call and the officer just talked to me for 2 minutes. He said "not an issue, but you and the other person shall not contact each other, both are advised." He has my name in a local record but told me it is nothing to worry about, it does not say I am a bad person, but the police have to keep record of every contact.

Now I was not charged nor convicted. Neither was I given a written warning. Still, I am very much worried and anxious to a great extent. I am very very worried that when I come back to Canada they won't allow me in because of this. I know criminal conviction in Canada makes you inadmissible, not this scenario but still I have uncertainty.

What shall I do? I am done with 75 percent of my degree and working on research papers and thesis. I've already been told by advisor that I can do a PhD if I want. Would the border people see me as a threat?

Answer 1

You have nothing to worry about. The police in Canada react to calls in one of several ways:

• they just interact with you but do not write your name down in their notebooks and they make no record of the incident. Once, a police officer who came to my home for a noise complaint wrote my name on his hand (so he would have it if he needed it over the next few hours, but I would never be in his notebook)
• they write something in their notebook, which means that in the event of some later criminal occurrence, they could go back to the notebook for evidence. Say "Ahmad was warned not to talk to [whoever] on [date]" might be relevant if you later assaulted [whoever] and charges were actually laid.
• they charge you with something. The charges might later be dismissed, or you might be convicted of them or of something lesser. It's reasonably common, when dealing with someone the police think needs a "wakeup call," to charge them with several things knowing only the mildest one will actually have a chance of conviction. For example charging with mischief, threatening, and assault when nobody actually hit anybody so an assault charge won't "stick".

Once a charge is laid, record of it spreads out of the officer's physical notebook or a book at the station and into an electronic system run by the province, which can be accessed by CBSA. If you have a court date scheduled, or there is a warrant for your arrest, they will know this when you return. This is less likely to keep you from re-entering, and would have been more likely to keep you from leaving. If you're convicted, that is also available to them and to officers of other countries too. But that's not relevant - you weren't even warned!

In your case there is just a note on a piece of paper, kept in case you don't learn from the caution you were given. If you and the other person continue to clash, the note can be evidence at whatever arises from that clash. But it's not in a system that CBSA can access, and even if it was, they wouldn't keep you out because of it. Relax.

Answer 2

While I understand your anxiety, in commonwealth Countries they will COMMUNICATE to you if you are not welcome anymore. Once I had to be the adult responsible for a kid in UK who stole from a shop. He had to apologize, was sent back to his home with the formal warning that the next time he wouldn't be welcome in all the commonwealth countries, should that have happened again.