The United Nations Human Rights Committee is sounding the alarm over Canada’s immigration and borders bill, saying its measures may weaken refugee protection and compromise the country’s compliance with international human rights obligations.
The new committee report issued Monday — which examined Canada’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights — said Canada should ensure asylum seekers have “unfettered access” to its territory and fair procedures. It called for safeguards ensuring the principle under international human rights law that no one should be returned to a country where they would face torture or serious human rights violations.
Bill C-12 proposes to bar people who first came to Canada more than a year ago from filing refugee claims with the Immigrant and Refugee Board, Canada’s main asylum review body. The legislation would require anyone in that category to apply for a pre-removal risk assessment, which is normally an appeal measure for rejected asylum claims.
Bill C-12 would also give the government the power to stop accepting new immigration applications or cancel existing applications when it decides it’s in the “public interest.”
Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab and department officials have previously said “public interest” is kept intentionally vague in the bill, which has yet to become law, to give the government leeway to approach a range of future situations, such as pandemics or espionage threats.
The UN committee’s report “calls into question the values that Canada proclaims,” said Julia Sande, a human rights lawyer with Amnesty International.
Sande said the UN committee’s findings do not come as a surprise.
Advocates for civil liberties and immigrants have called on Ottawa to back down from a proposed expansion of immigration officers’ discretionary power to cancel documents and terminate processing and have said the bill could endanger those who enter Canada under fear of persecution.
Both the Canadian Bar Association and Amnesty International have argued that the legislation would set up a two-tier asylum system that wouldn’t guarantee in-person hearings for vulnerable people.
“If the government has no shame about ignoring the UN Human Rights Committee then what does it say about Canada and this government’s commitment to upholding international human rights law?” Sande said.
The report also called on Canada to review its participation in the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S. Under the pact, Canada and the U.S. recognize each other as a safe place to seek refuge. It dictates that migrants should pursue their claims in the country where they first arrived.
The Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration policy has led to attacks on immigrant communities, with the government attempting to strip people of their status, leaving many at risk of becoming undocumented and facing deportation.
The report also highlighted the human rights risks of Canada’s temporary foreign worker program as “the use of employer-tied permits may expose migrant workers, many of whom belong to vulnerable groups, to labour exploitation, abuse and discrimination, while creating significant barriers to reporting violations due to fear of deportation.”
The UN Human Rights Committee is the body of independent experts that monitors how countries implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and reviews state compliance, considers individual complaints, and sets legal standards to protect civil and political rights.
The Immigration Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday afternoon.
With files from The Canadian Press
