FCJ Refugee Centre has joined over 300 organizations from across Canada to demand complete withdrawal of Bill C-2, the so-called “Strong Borders Act”, an initiative by the federal government that threatens human rights, refugee and migrant rights, and privacy of all residents of Canada.
The following are some of the expected impacts of Bill C-2, as summarised by the Canadian Council of Refugees.
Impact of Bill C-2 on refugees and immigrants:
- Bill C-2 blocks anyone who has been in Canada more than one year from seeking refugee status, even if their home country becomes dangerous after arrival. This applies retroactively to everyone since June 2020, and is fundamentally inconsistent with international humanitarian law.
- Bill C-2 eliminates important US border exceptions. Previously, those crossing from the US between official ports could apply for refugee status after 14 days. Bill C-2 removes this completely, trapping vulnerable people under Trump’s xenophobic policies.
- Bill C-2 gives mass deportation powers: The Immigration Minister gains authority to cancel permits for entire groups without due process—including revoking permanent residency applications and cards already submitted. Migrants could lose status overnight with no legal recourse.
- Bill C-2 removes privacy protections: It allows unrestricted information sharing about migrants across all levels of governments. Undocumented workers asserting labour rights could face deportation when employers report them to border enforcement.
Impact of Bill C-2 on all Canadians:
- Mass Surveillance Without Warrants: Police and CSIS can demand to know whether you have an online account with any organization or service in Canada, long with information like how long you’ve had it for or where you’ve logged in from, with no warrant required.
- A lower bar for more data: Law enforcement with a warrant can demand production of your online data, unencrypted emails, and browsing history from any company based only on “reasonable suspicion”— not the current standard of reasonable belief.
- Forced Corporate Spying: Companies must keep records of your personal data under secret government orders, with blanket immunity for privacy violations for handing over more than they should.
- Foreign Access to Your Data: Bill C-2 makes necessary changes to prepare Canada to endorse the US CLOUD Act and additional protocols of the Budapest Cybercrime Convention. These treaties would allow US authorities and other foreign governments to make similar data requests to Canadian entities, undermining Canada’s constitutional protections and data sovereignty.
- Inadequate Legal Recourse: Only five days are allowed to challenge secret surveillance orders, with blanket civil immunity for companies that comply, ensuring even excessive orders go unchallenged.
Bill C-2 is not only eroding the right to refugee protection in Canada, but it is also expanding security and surveillance measures, thereby undermining important privacy rights for all Canadians. Additionally, it grants the government the authority to cancel any immigration permits at any time, creating further uncertainty for hundreds of migrant workers in Canada.
—Diana Gallego, Co-Executive Director of FCJ Refugee Centre
Seeking asylum is a human right. With Bill C-2, the Canadian government threatens to chip away at that right, making it harder for people seeking safety and freedom to file an asylum claim and have it assessed fairly. This attack on the right to seek asylum will severely diminish Canada’s international standing when it comes to protecting human rights.
—Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section
Bill C-2 reflects a wholesale shift in how Canada responds to refugees seeking our protection, including enabling their deportation back to danger without even a hearing. It is a shocking abandonment of rights protected under our Charter and International law, providing none of the fairness and due process that Canadians fully expect from our government in immigration matters. In many respects it sinks lower than US policy. The Bill must be withdrawn.
–Gauri Sreenivasan, Co-Executive Director of the Canadian Council for Refugees
Bill C-2 is the expansion of a deportation machine that will put hundreds of thousands of people at risk. With 1.2 million people already unable to renew their permits this year due to recent immigration cuts, this bill’s sweeping new powers to cancel immigration status without individual evaluation will force more people into conditions of abuse, exploitation and even death.
–Karen Cocq, Migrant Rights Network
Bill C-2 is a policy misstep—it is an attack on the rights and safety of survivors of gender-based violence. It ignores the lived realities of those fleeing abuse and trauma, and risks turning Canada’s borders into instruments of harm. We must uphold our commitments to human rights and ensure that no one is denied protection because of how or when they arrive.
–Deepa Mattoo, Executive Director and Lawyer of the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic
Bill C-2 would undermine more than a decade of Canadian privacy-related jurisprudence to enable a massive expansion of domestic surveillance. Without a warrant, police and spy agencies could demand information about our online activities based on the low threshold of ‘reasonable suspicion.’ This shockingly broad system is ripe for abuse and appears deliberately designed to prepare Canada for controversial data-sharing obligations with the United States and other countries.
–Tim McSorley, National Coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
Statements denouncing Bill C-2
Withdraw Bill C-2 – Initiated by the Migrant Rights Network, Canadian Council for Refugees and International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, with endorsements from 176 organizations including the Canadian Labour Congress; Canada’s national housing rights organization – National Right to Housing Network; Canada’s largest Climate coalition – Climate Action Network Canada; as well as The United Church of Canada, Oxfam Canada, Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and others.
Dangerous new border legislation erodes refugee rights and will make many in Canada less safe – Statement from the Canadian Council of Refugees: “The CCR is deeply alarmed by the multiple dangerous precedents that will be set if Bill C-2 becomes law. Under the guise of a bill that claims to make Canada safer, the government is introducing sweeping legislative changes that will seriously weaken refugee rights and are inconsistent with our obligations under the Canadian Charter and international law. Simply put, the government proposes we deal with possible future increases in refugee claims not by improving and better resourcing our world class system for hearing these claims—but by removing protections altogether.”
Joint Call for the Withdrawal of Bill C-2 – Led by OpenMedia and signed by 39 prominent organizations including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and Canadian Anti-Hate Network, plus 122 individual legal experts and academics. This statement focuses on the bill’s degradation of privacy rights and its preparation for controversial data-sharing with foreign governments.
Canada puts refugee claimants at risk with Bill C-2 – Initiated by OCASI (Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants) and endorsed by 71 refugee and settlement organizations, as well as the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and YWCA branches nationwide. The letter details how the bill violates international refugee law and puts vulnerable claimants at grave risk.
Bill C-2 Risks Undermining Canada’s Commitments to Gender-Based Violence Survivors – Supported by 48 organizations including the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, Canadian Women’s Foundation, Women’s Shelters Canada, and YWCA Canada. This statement highlights the disproportionate and dangerous impact Bill C-2 would have on survivors of gender-based violence who face additional barriers while dealing with trauma.
Bill C-2, Canada’s new border bill, an attack on the human right to seek asylum – Amnesty International Canada says Bill C-2, the federal government’s sprawling new border bill, is an attack on refugees’ right to seek asylum: “If passed, Bill C-2 would make it virtually impossible for most people entering Canada via the U.S. to have their refugee claim reviewed by the Immigration and Refugee Board. In addition, the bill would effectively block people who have been in Canada for more than a year from seeking refugee status. People who face persecution, torture or worse in their countries of origin could be unfairly denied refugee protection by Canada as a result.”
Today, September 30, is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, a time to recognize and commemorate the intergenerational harm that residential schools caused to Indigenous families and communities, and to honour those who have been affected by this injustice.
