Immigration minister defends sweeping new powers in border bill
Bill allows Ottawa to cancel immigration documents, shrinks window for asylum seekers
Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab is defending controversial new measures in the Strong Borders Act, such as giving her office the power to cancel immigration documents en masse and placing time limits for asylum seekers to make their applications.
"There's a lot of applications in the system. We need to act fairly, and treat people appropriately who really do need to claim asylum and who really do need to be protected to stay in Canada," Diab told CBC News.
"We need to be more efficient in doing that. At the same time, Canadians demand that we have a system that works for everyone."
Introduced in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act, is meant to protect Canadian sovereignty, strengthen the border and keep Canadians safe, according to the federal government.
The bill would make dozens of amendments to existing laws. Its proposed changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act would force asylum seekers entering the country, including students and temporary residents, to make claims within a year.
The new law would also require irregular border crossers, people who enter Canada between official ports of entry, to make an asylum claim within 14 days of arriving in Canada.
And it would speed up voluntary departures by making removal orders effective the same day an asylum claim is withdrawn.
Groups such as the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers are raising concerns about these measures.
"There are a few categories of people who may end up making a claim after they've been in Canada for more than one year for fully legitimate reasons," said Adam Sadinsky, the group's advocacy co-chair.
He cited examples such as changes in government in someone's country of origin, the breakout of conflict or their human rights advocacy in Canada placing a target on them.
"They may now be in danger returning back home in a way that they weren't when they first arrived," he said.
Federal government data shows some 39,445 asylum claimants processed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency between January and April.
Sadinsky said if the government's motivations are about clearing backlogs, it may be creating another problem.
Asylum seekers who find their application rejected by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada can file appeals to the Refugee Appeal Division. However, shutting them out of the asylum route after a year could make them turn to the Federal Court of Canada for recourse instead, a body that has been public about its own courtrooms facing severe delays with immigration cases.
"It's a lot more work for the court," Sadinsky said, "when people start getting removal dates from Canada and they have to ask the court for motions for stays of removal from Canada."
Sadinsky suggested the government could have reduced backlogs by issuing blanket approvals for would-be asylum seekers from countries where Canada recognizes there is an imminent danger to sending them back, such as Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Justice Minister Sean Fraser said the government needed to act, though he recognized courts are facing efficiency problems.
"We need to be able to do two things at once," he said about changing the asylum system and reducing court backlogs.
Reached for comment, the office of the chief justice of the Federal Court said in a statement it would "simply hope that any potential impact on the court's workload would be taken into account," citing a previous amendment to immigration law under Stephen Harper's Conservative government in 2010 that included four new court positions.
Mass cancellation powers
The Migrant Rights Network, an advocacy group, said it is alarmed about the government giving itself the ability to cancel previously issued immigration documents in large groups.
"What this is, is setting up of a mass deportation machine," said its spokesperson Syed Hussan. "Just go out and say we're walking away from the Geneva Convention."
Diab said any mass cancellation decisions would be taken by the whole cabinet, not just her office, and they would not be done lightly.
"These are in exceptional circumstances, when you're talking about mass cancellation or suspension," she said.
"For example, when COVID happened, we literally had applications coming in, and the system had no authority to suspend or cancel those applications … we could have health risks again. We could have security risks."
Bill C-2 is now moving through Parliament. The legislation would normally be studied by parliamentary committee next, though neither Diab nor Gary Anandasangaree, the public safety minister, could say which committee would pick it up.
Committees have not been named yet for this sitting and it is unclear if they will before Parliament wraps up for the summer at the end of June.
The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers said it intends to write a letter outlining its concerns to the federal government, and would hope to present at committee when the moment arrives.
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With files from Peter Zimonjic