When Canadian MP Vince Gasparro took to social media in September to declare that Kneecap were banned from entering the country, he said he was making that statement “on behalf of the government of Canada”.
However, it has now been confirmed that neither Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney nor the Canada Border Services Agency were involved in or aware of Gasparro’s public statement about the rap trio, who were meant to be playing shows in the country in October.
Officials formally distanced themselves from Gasparro's statement this week in documents provided to the Canadian Parliament in response to a query by Jenny Kwan, an MP with one of the country’s opposition parties, the NDP.
Gasparro is a member of Carney’s Liberal Party and, as well as being an MP, is also Parliamentary Secretary for Ruby Sahot, Canada’s Secretary Of State for Combatting Crime, which means he acts as link between Sahot and Parliament.
In this week’s documents, Carney’s office said it was “not involved in the decision” for Gasparo to speak about the status of Kneecap’s travel authorisation, while the CBSA said it was not consulted about, and did not “provide advice” for, Gasparo’s social media post.
In that post, Gasparro criticised Kneecap’s outspoken on-stage criticism of Israel and support for Palestine, which he said was “contrary to Canadian values and laws” and a cause of “deep alarm to our government”.
At the time, Kneecap member Mo Chara was still battling criminal charges in the UK for allegedly displaying the flag of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah on stage at a London gig, something Gasparro referenced in his video. However, that criminal case was dismissed by a UK judge a week later.
Despite Gasparro stating in his post that “we have deemed the group Kneecap ineligible to enter our country”, it then emerged that no one seemed to know for certain what the status was regarding the group’s travel authorisation within Canada.
When asked for clarification, officials at Immigration, Refugees And Citizenship Canada and the country’s Immigration Minister Lena Diab simply said they couldn’t comment on specific cases because of privacy rules.
However, earlier this month, the IRCC did provide more information to the CBC, seemingly with the consent of the group. The immigration agency revealed that all three members of Kneecap obtained the necessary ‘electronic travel authorisations’ to travel to and perform in Canada in March 2024, and that those ETAs were valid until 2029.
However, Mo Chara’s ETA was then cancelled in August due to “inadmissibility for omitting to disclose complete and accurate information on his application”. The ETAs of Mo Chara’s bandmates were then put “under review” the following month, the IRCC says, and at that point it told the group that they “should not travel to Canada until receiving further communication”.
Despite the IRCC stating that the group were informed about these issues, Kneecap manager Daniel Lambert told CBC this month that the only formal communication they have received from the Canadian government remains Gasparo’s social media announcement. Nevertheless, the group’s October shows were cancelled.
Despite the IRCC providing a little more information, we still don’t know what the specific issue was relating to Mo Chara’s ETA, nor why the other members’ authorisations were under review. However, they submitted their original applications prior to Mo Chara’s prosecution, so the missing or inaccurate information couldn’t have related to that.
Either way, despite the IRCC’s statement to the CBC earlier this month, and the formal documents provided to the Canadian Parliament the week, the exact status of Kneecap’s travel authorisation within Canada still remains something of a mystery.