Bill C-12 will not solve Canada's immigration problems

Last month, Bill C-12, the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act received royal assent. The law gives the Minister of Immigration, Lena Diab, the power to pause applications “in the public interest.” It also retroactively bars persons with expired one-year permits (such as student visas, or temporary work permits) from subsequently filing refugee claims, as they can now do when other avenues to permanent residency are closed. It also eliminates the loophole whereby persons who enter the country illegally and remain undetected for 14 days can also file a refugee claim, under the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement.

These changes would result in the dismissal of 19,000 such refugee applications, according to Diab. That’s a drop in the bucket of the 288,271 pending asylum claims currently clogging the system. Immigration lawyers and refugee advocates are nevertheless crying foul and plan to contest the law in court. Read more here