Canadian Bill C-12, the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act, received royal assent on Thursday. Following its passing, 28 domestic and international refugee and migrant rights groups released a joint statement that denounced the bill as an attack on refugee and migrant rights.
Bill C-12 is a modified version of Bill C-2, which itself was the first bill introduced by the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney following his election in May 2025. The bill restricts who can apply for refugee status in Canada and has been compared to similar legislation passed in the US. It is widely viewed that both bills were introduced after much pressure from US President Donald Trump, who accused Canada of poorly defending the shared border and threatened tariffs.
The statement asserts that a broad range of experts and individuals testified to the Canadian senate, urging standing committees to make modifications to the legislation to protect migrant rights. The pleas were reflected in the bill; the statement reads:
Bill C-12 sets the current and future governments on a dangerous path by limiting the ability to seek refugee protection in Canada, enabling the mass cancellation of immigration documents and applications, and facilitating the sharing of personal information within and outside the country. Bill C-12 will put thousands of individuals at risk of persecution, violence and precarity.
One of the most controversial elements of the legislation is paragraph 76 of the bill which prevents an application to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) if the applicant arrived in Canada more than a year before their application. Those applicants are instead subject to a pre-removal risk assessment. This assessment was designed as a last step before deportation for those who had already received an assessment by the IRB, and it does not guarantee an oral testimony. In effect, a person who travels to Canada once as a child for tourism, is barred from applying for refugee status through the IRB once they are an adult.
Signatories to the statement include the Canadian Council for Refugees, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Amnesty International Canada, Doctors of the World Canada, and others
On the Monday before the bill passed, the UN Human Rights Committee warned that the legislation could compromise rights. The Committee highlighted that the bill may weaken refugee protection and that the Safe Third Country Agreement with the US may have negative consequences for asylum seekers.
The bill is part of a broader strategy by the Carney government to limit immigration. Other measures to limit immigration include a revision to the Immigration Levels Plan, reducing the total number of migrants permitted to the country.
When the bill was first introduced to the legislature earlier in the year, it was condemned by a group of more than 300 organizations. That list included the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the BC Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Labour Congress, the United Church of Canada, the Migrant Rights Network, the Canadian Council for Refugees, and Amnesty International.
