Immigration minister defends sweeping new powers in border bill

Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab is defending arguable caller measures successful the Strong Borders Act, specified arsenic giving her bureau the powerfulness to cancel migration documents en masse and placing clip limits for asylum seekers to marque their applications.

"There's a batch of applications successful the system. We request to enactment fairly, and dainty radical appropriately who truly bash request to assertion asylum and who truly bash request to beryllium protected to enactment successful Canada," Diab told CBC News.

"We request to beryllium much efficient in doing that. At the aforesaid time, Canadians request that we person a strategy that works for everyone."

Introduced successful the House of Commons connected Tuesday, Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act, is meant to support Canadian sovereignty, fortify the borderline and support Canadians safe, according to the national government.

The measure would marque dozens of amendments to existing laws. Its projected changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act would unit asylum seekers entering the country, including students and impermanent residents, to marque claims wrong a year.

The caller instrumentality would besides necessitate irregular borderline crossers, radical who participate Canada betwixt authoritative ports of entry, to marque an asylum assertion wrong 14 days of arriving successful Canada.

And it would speed up voluntary departures by making removal orders effectual the aforesaid time an asylum assertion is withdrawn.

Groups specified arsenic the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers are raising concerns astir these measures. 

"There are a fewer categories of radical who whitethorn extremity up making a assertion aft they've been successful Canada for much than 1 twelvemonth for afloat morganatic reasons," said Adam Sadinsky, the group's advocacy co-chair. 

He cited examples specified arsenic changes successful authorities successful someone's state of origin, the breakout of struggle oregon their quality rights advocacy successful Canada placing a target on them. 

"They whitethorn present beryllium successful information returning backmost location successful a mode that they weren't erstwhile they archetypal arrived," helium said. 

Federal authorities information shows immoderate 39,445 asylum claimants processed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency betwixt January and April.

Sadinsky said if the government's motivations are astir clearing backlogs, it whitethorn beryllium creating different problem. 

Asylum seekers who find their exertion rejected by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada tin record appeals to the Refugee Appeal Division. However, shutting them retired of the asylum way aft a twelvemonth could marque them crook to the Federal Court of Canada for recourse instead, a assemblage that has been nationalist astir its ain courtrooms facing terrible delays with migration cases.

"It's a batch much enactment for the court," Sadinsky said, "when radical commencement getting removal dates from Canada and they person to inquire the tribunal for motions for stays of removal from Canada." 

Sadinsky suggested the authorities could person reduced backlogs by issuing broad approvals for would-be asylum seekers from countries wherever Canada recognizes determination is an imminent information to sending them back, specified arsenic Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

WATCH | Public information curate connected borderline bill: 

Speaking to journalists connected Wednesday, Justice Minister Sean Fraser said the authorities needed to act, though helium recognized courts are facing ratio problems.

"We request to beryllium capable to bash 2 things astatine once," helium said astir changing the asylum strategy and reducing tribunal backlogs.

Reached for comment, the bureau of the main justness of the Federal Court said successful a connection it would "simply anticipation that immoderate imaginable interaction connected the court's workload would beryllium taken into account," citing a erstwhile amendment to migration instrumentality nether Stephen Harper's Conservative authorities successful 2010 that included 4 caller tribunal positions.

Mass cancellation powers

The Migrant Rights Network, an advocacy group, said it is alarmed astir the authorities giving itself the quality to cancel antecedently issued migration documents successful ample groups. 

"What this is, is mounting up of a wide deportation machine," said its spokesperson Syed Hussan. "Just spell retired and accidental we're walking distant from the Geneva Convention." 

Diab said immoderate wide cancellation decisions would beryllium taken by the full cabinet, not conscionable her office, and they would not beryllium done lightly.

"These are successful exceptional circumstances, erstwhile you're talking astir wide cancellation oregon suspension," she said. 

"For example, erstwhile COVID happened, we virtually had applications coming in, and the strategy had nary authorization to suspend oregon cancel those applications … we could person wellness risks again. We could person information risks." 

Bill C-2 is present moving done Parliament. The authorities would usually beryllium studied by parliamentary committee next, though neither Diab nor Gary Anandasangaree, the nationalist information minister, could accidental which committee would prime it up.

Committees person not been named yet for this sitting and it is unclear if they volition earlier Parliament wraps up for the summertime astatine the extremity of June.

The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers said it intends to constitute a missive outlining its concerns to the national government, and would anticipation to contiguous astatine committee erstwhile the infinitesimal arrives.