When Mark Carney’s recently elected minority government presented their first Bill in the House of Commons on June 3, it was presented as the “Strong Borders Act.” This Bill promises to improve border security in Canada. However, advocates quickly saw dangerous elements to the Liberal government’s proposal. The bill attacks privacy and freedom, places further restrictions on immigration, and additional barriers to asylum seekers entering Canada.
Initially, most of the major criticisms brought forward in the media were surrounding government’s plan to increase the ability of law enforcement to access information. If the bill passes as is, it would broaden the government and law enforcement’s ability to access private information from citizens without needing a warrant – this includes medical records and recorded visits to abortion clinics.
This was understandably alarming to many Canadians, as the bill opened the door for Carney’s government, or future governments, to access information in an invasive way. It’s not hard to imagine what an ultra-right-wing government seeking to criminalize abortion could do with access to this type of information.
What has often been lost in the public criticism of the bill, was its blatant attack on the well-being of migrants, international students, and asylum-seekers. Migrant Rights Network immediately sounded the alarm about the largely hidden changes to federal immigration regulations.
If passed, the legislation would ban anyone from applying for asylum in Canada if they have been in the country for over one year at the time of application. This is concerning for a multitude of reasons, as often circumstances will change in migrants’ home countries preventing them from returning home.
For example, if this bill was passed five years earlier, a Ukrainian studying in Canada in 2022 during Russia’s invasion would not have been eligible for asylum unless they happened to have arrived in Canada less than twelve months prior.
This regulation is not only horribly inhumane but also incredibly illogical, completely forgetting the very real possibility of circumstances changing during the time a student, or any other migrant, is living in Canada.
Placing restrictions on when or if migrants can claim asylum defeats the purpose of asylum, as being a last-resort option for members of the international community fleeing persecution, war, genocide, political conflict and so much more.
Even if amended to include provisions for changing circumstances, the decision to claim asylum is often a very difficult, taxing decision. Further increasing barriers for these refugees goes against Canada’s legal responsibility not to send refugees back to face persecution in their home countries, and is derived from a myth that migrants are abusing the refugee system. To be so worried about false claims that you prevent even a single asylum seeker from staying in Canada is morally corrupt and deeply lacks empathetic.
The Bill also increases the Minister of Immigration’s ability to immediately cancel or suspend work permits, study permits, and asylum applications without due process. Allowing the Canadian Government this type of authoritarian power mirrors the current structure of the United States Government, which Canadians overwhelmingly voted against.
Giving this power to the government to revoke permits without notice creates an unsafe environment for migrants in Canada and opens the door for mass deportations without due process. It feels dystopian because it is – this Bill would immediately endanger every international student and migrant in this country, all in the name of giving the government more power.
What will this do for Canada’s reputation?
The Trudeau government’s massive immigration caps and restrictions on international students have done extreme damage to Canada’s brand globally. It’s something I’ve personally heard from administrators at Memorial University, and administrators at other universities and colleges across Canada – we need to “rebuild” Brand Canada, because international students are seeing this country less and less as a viable option, with volatile immigration regulations and no security.
How will Bill C-2 affect this perception? From what I’ve heard, it will only make it worse. Students will not want to risk coming to Canada for four years, knowing that their status could be revoked without due process at any time. We will have shown the world that Canada is not a welcoming country, or a safe country for those who were not born here.
Is this what Canada voted for?
Canadians voted for Carney largely out of fear that Pierre Poilievre’s rhetoric was too similar to Trump’s and that he would sell Canada out to the United States. To me, Mark Carney is doing exactly what voters were scared of seeing from Poilievre.
Carney’s policies are eerily similar to Donald Trump’s, he shows no interest in making Canada a welcoming, safe alternative in the wake of Trump’s attacks on democracy. Instead, with Bill-C2, he is destroying Canada’s reputation and making the country dangerous for migrants.
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