2. Fill out information about your family

There is a section in the Basis of Claim Form (BOC) that asks you to list your relatives. Relatives means:

• your spouse or common-law partner, including same-sex partners
• your children, including children born outside of marriage, adopted children, and any step-children
• your parents
• your brothers and sisters, including half-brothers and half-sisters

List all of your relatives, even if they are not in Canada with you or not claiming protection with you. Include relatives that have died and those you haven’t seen for many years or don’t know where they are.

If you don’t know all the details about a relative, such as their date of birth or where they live, put “don’t know” for the details you’re not sure about. Or you can put the relative’s approximate age in place of the date of birth.

Leaving out a relative or giving information about them that is not true can cause problems. For example, if you say that a relative was harmed or threatened by the police but you didn’t list that person in your BOC, the Refugee Board might not believe your story.

As well, if your refugee claim is successful but you didn’t list a spouse, child, or parent in your forms, you won’t be allowed to include them in your application for permanent residence or to sponsor them later.