Canada denied Jeffrey Epstein permission to visit B.C. in 2018: documents

OTTAWA — The Canadian government denied convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein permission to enter the country in 2018 due to his criminal past, newly released U.S. government documents reveal.

On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department released some 3.5 million pages of documents related to Epstein which include correspondence from his personal email address with the Canadian government.

Despite his criminal record, Epstein contacted the Canadian consulate in Los Angeles seeking a temporary resident permit for a planned trip to Vancouver from April 11 to 13 in 2018 so he could attend a TED conference there.

The Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles wrote back on April 4 that year to tell that his application was rejected after a “careful and sympathetic review.”

The letter informed Epstein he was inadmissible because he was convicted of a crime considered an indictable offence in Canada, and that Ottawa only makes exceptions in circumstances that “might be best described as humanitarian and compassionate.”

The documents were disclosed under a law U.S. President Donald Trump enacted in response to mounting public pressure that compels the U.S. government to release information it collected on the disgraced financier.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 30, 2026.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press