Joining the House of Commons’ recent debate on Bill C-31, Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act, was West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky member of Parliament John Weston.
The legislation, which was introduced by Jason Kenney, minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, aims to streamline the immigration process while targeting areas of abuse identified by government.
“The facts speak for themselves,” Weston said during the debate. “For example, in 2011, Canada received more refugee claims from the democratic and human rights-respecting countries of the European Union [EU] than from Africa or Asia.”
Weston currently serves as a member of the citizenship and immigration committee. “Last year’s unfounded asylum claims by 5,800 EU nationals will cost Canadian taxpayers nearly $170 million. Obviously, something has to change,” he said.
C-31 is a new direction compared to the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, which according to the government reduced processing times for asylum seekers by 30 days.
By cracking down on asylum and refugee claims from democratic countries, the government is hoping to reduce the expense of running an immigration system that, according to Weston, resettles as many as 10 per cent of the world’s refugees.
Other concerns the government hopes the legislation will address include human smuggling and birth tourism, the documented practice of foreign families choosing to give birth on Canadian soil to get an automatic birth certificate for their child.
Part of the strategy proposed is to lend the minister the power to deem certain countries “safe” in order to fast track asylum claims.
“If we do not improve the current system, we will not be able to continue accepting as many real refugees from other parts of the world,” argued Weston. “If the minister had the right to designate the countries whose citizens are not true refugees, we could greatly speed up the current process.”
During the session, the New Democratic Party (NDP) criticized the possibility of allowing the minister to deem a country safe or unsafe.
Isabelle Morin, NDP MP for Notre-Dame-de-Grace-Lachine, lamented the possibility that such powers could lead to decisions being made based on political considerations.
Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Randall Garrison of the NDP said C-31 would create a “second class of refugee claimants who are subject to various severe measures, including potential detention for a year.”
Kenney described Garrison’s arguments as “incoherent,” adding that once again, the NDP “does not understand Bill C-31.
“The changes the bill will make to the asylum system will not alter the fact that all asylum seekers from all countries, by means of all types of immigration, including smuggling, will have an oral hearing before the independent decision-makers of the immigration and refugee board,” Kenney said.
