Canadians
take great pride in the generosity and compassion of our immigration and
refugee programs. But they have no tolerance for those who abuse our generosity
and seek to take unfair advantage of our country,” said Jason Kenney, Minister
of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism. He was speaking about the
government’s motivation for the proposed Protecting Canada’s Immigration System
Act. This act is the third version of a hotly-debated bill that the
Conservative government has been trying to pass since March of 2010.
The
newest version proposes changes that build on reforms to the asylum system
passed in June 2010 as part of another piece of legislation, the Balanced
Refugee Reform Act. The changes are being made because, according to Jason
Kenney, “it has become clear that there are gaps in the Balanced Refugee Reform
Act and we need stronger measures.”
Kenney
explains one such gap: “Canada receives more refugee claims from Europe than from
Africa or Asia. Last year alone, 23 per cent of all refugee claims made in
Canada were made by nationals from the EU. That’s up from 14 per cent the
previous year. This growing trend threatens the integrity of our immigration
system.”
Minister
Kenney believes that the new bill will shorten processing times for refugee
claimants, while also saving money for Canadian tax payers. Under the new bill,
refugee claimants from countries that Kenney chooses as “safe” will take 45 days
to process, compared to 171 days under the Balanced Refugee Reform Act. Kenney
explains, “Too many tax dollars are spent on bogus refugees. We need to send a
message to those who would abuse Canada’s generous asylum system that if you
are not in need of protection, you will be sent home quickly.”
Kenney
continues, “To maintain the support of Canadians for our generous immigration
and refugee systems, we must demonstrate that Canada has a fair, well-managed
system that does not tolerate queue-jumping.”
Despite
the good intentions of Bill C-31, many politicians expressed concerns and
criticism of the new bill. New Democratic Party MP Alexandre Boulerice of Rosemont-La
Petite-Patrie, QC, gave a speech in the House of Commons on Mar. 15 of this
year, in which he argued that Bill C-31 has misleading language that negatively
affects honest refugee claimants. “Overall, the bill targets refugees, not
human smugglers. The language, the rhetoric, says it is targeting smugglers, but
in fact the people who will really be affected are refugees. The minister is
aiming at the wrong target. Certainly, the bill is well-intentioned. The good
intentions are there, but the cure it seeks to apply is worse than the disease.”
NDP
MP, Ms. Rathika Sitsabaiesan, for Scarborough—Rouge River, Ontario, said during
parliamentary debate that “the bill would set out to dismantle our immigration
system, damaging it legally, socially, morally, and internationally. I find the
omnibus nature of the bill very disturbing.”
Moreover,
both Sitsabaiesan and Boulerice raised similar objections about the portion of Bill
C-31 that would allow the holding of some refugees in detention without review
for up to 12 months during an identification process, as this would, according
to them, constitute a violation of the Canadian Charter of Human Rights, and various
international treaties.
Dubbed
the “Refugee Exclusion Act” by critics, Bill C-31 is opposed by many
organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Canadian
Association of Refugee Lawyers, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Locally,
No One Is Illegal (NOII), a grassroots advocacy group for immigration and
refugee reform, has expressed its opposition to the legislation. “The Tories
are quietly pushing through the ‘Refugee Exclusion Act’, Bill C-31, which
creates a discriminatory two-tier refugee protection system based on nationality,
mandates jail time for many asylum seekers, and revokes permanent residency
from many people already granted refugee status,” says Syed Hussan in a Mar. 27
press release from No One Is Illegal. “This proposed extremist and exclusionary
law will have significant impacts by pushing the minimalist Canadian refugee
policy back decades, and the Tories are going to paint anyone that opposes it as
extremists.”
Furthermore,
opposition parties hold issue with the fact that Bill C-31 is a drastic change
to the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, which was created under the previous
minority government with the approval of all parties. However, any concessions
that the Conservatives made at that time are no longer necessary, due to their
parliamentary majority.
//Mike Conway, writer
//Mike Conway, writer
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