3. Gather and file evidence to support your claim

The you need to respond to the Minister's evidence depends on:

why the Minister is involved, and
the facts of your case.

You must respond directly to the Minister's concerns. You also need to provide evidence to support your refugee claim overall.

Every case is different, so legal advice is very important. A lawyer or other licensed representative can:

represent you at your hearing
tell you what evidence you need
review your documents before you submit them
help you prepare to answer questions at your hearing

If any documents you want to file are not in English or French, make sure you get them properly translated and include the translator's declaration.

Immigration history

The Minister can get involved because of something in your immigration history. For example, they might say you misrepresented something.

Misrepresentation means:

giving untrue or incorrect information to the immigration authorities, or
leaving out important information.

In that situation, you need to provide evidence that:

shows the Minister's information is wrong, or
explains why something was missing or incorrect

Delay in claiming protection

The Minister may say you waited too long to make your refugee claim, for example, more than 6 months after arriving in Canada. In that case, you need to:

clearly explain why you waited, and
provide evidence that supports your explanation.

More than one nationality

The Minister may believe that:

you are a citizen of another country where you would be safe, or
you could get citizenship in another safe country.

In that situation, you need to show that:

you do not have another nationality, and you cannot get one, or
you would face risk in every country where you're a citizen.

You may need to give information about the citizenship and immigration laws of those countries. In some cases, expert evidence about the situation in those countries may help.

If you have the right to live in another safe country, the Minister might raise an exclusion argument. If this happens, the Minister's Notice will mention Article 1E of the Refugee Convention. If that's your situation, read: There’s an exclusion issue in my refugee claim. What does this mean?

How to submit your evidence

If the Minister is intervening in your claim, before you send your evidence to the (RPD), you must send a copy to the Minister's Counsel. Their address is on the Notice of Intent to Intervene.

You must send all the evidence you plan to file to the Minister, not just the evidence that responds to the Minister's argument.

After you send it to them, you must send the RPD:

the same evidence, and
a written statement explaining when and how you sent it to Minister's Counsel.

You must do this at least 10 days before your hearing.

If your evidence is responding to the Minister's evidence, then you have until 5 days before the hearing to send your evidence to the Minister and the RPD.

If you get or receive evidence only after the deadline, you can still ask the RPD to accept it by completing and submitting the form.