Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

s. 145 Debts due

PART 3: Enforcement

Last verified: June 2026 · Source: justice.gc.ca

What that means

This section covers money owed to the government. Some amounts count as debts to the Crown, meaning the federal government. They include debts the government took on because of you, and deposits or guarantees you agreed to. They also include employer penalties and the cost of removing certain people from Canada. So does money the Minister orders someone else to pay under s.147 toward what a person owes. For example, an employer can be told to send part of that person's pay to the government. Costs and fees that transport companies must pay under s.148(1)(g) count too. All of them are payable on demand and can be collected at any time. What a sponsor owes under an undertaking is owed to Ottawa and the province together.

Affects: Persons subject to removal or detention

This is what the section says, not how it applies to any one case. An officer decides each case.

The law says

IRPA s. 145

Verify on justice.gc.ca

(1)The following amounts are debts due to Her Majesty in right of Canada payable on demand:

(a)a debt incurred by Her Majesty for which any person is liable under this Act;
(b)an amount that a person has agreed to pay as a deposit or guarantee of performance of an obligation under this Act;
(b.1)the amount of a penalty imposed under any regulation made under paragraph 32(d.4);
(c)the costs incurred in removing a prescribed foreign national from Canada;
(d)an amount that is ordered to be paid under section 147 on account of an unpaid liability; and
(e)an amount referred to in paragraph 148(1)(g).

Debts due — sponsors

(2)Subject to any federal-provincial agreement, an amount that a sponsor is required to pay under the terms of an undertaking is payable on demand to Her Majesty in right of Canada and Her Majesty in right of the province concerned and may be recovered by Her Majesty in either or both of those rights.

Recovery of debt

(3)A debt may be recovered at any time.