Law360 Canada ( October 15, 2026, 9:38 AM EDT) -- Appeal by Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (Minister) from the Federal Court judgment granting the respondent’s application for judicial review of the Immigration Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada’s (Immigration Division) decision finding him inadmissible and ordering his deportation. The respondent was an Afghan citizen resettled in Canada and a career military doctor who retired as a Colonel after serving under regimes designated as having engaged in systematic or gross human rights violations. The Immigration Division applied the top-half test to the military hierarchy and treated his rank as creating an irrebuttable presumption that he was a prescribed senior official under s. 35(1)(b) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Act) and s. 16 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (Regulations). It did not consider non-refoulement under Article 33 of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or contextually assess his position. The Federal Court found the decision unreasonable and remitted the matter. The Minister submitted that non-refoulement was relevant only at removal, prior authorities supported the top-half test, and Mason and Weldemariam did not apply to s. 35(1)(b) of the Act. The respondent and interveners submitted that non-refoulement constrained interpretation at the inadmissibility stage. The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers also requested clarification that the top-half test was not binding....