Bill C-31 - What it means

The Minister described Bill C-31 as a "tough" bill. The provisions relating to inadmissibility and loss of permanent residence live up to this label.

• The bill creates a new inadmissible category for transnational organized crime (S. 33(1)(b)), which is very vaguely defined through reference to "activities such as people smuggling, trafficking in persons or money laundering". The bill clarifies that entering Canada with the assistance of people smugglers does not lead to inadmissibility, but this new category could catch people who help family members get to Canada using smugglers.

 
• The bill creates a new category of inadmissibility for misrepresentation (S. 36), valid for 2 years from the time the person is found inadmissible. It includes direct and indirect misrepresentation, persons sponsored by a person who made the misrepresentation (if the Minister chooses) and persons whose refugee protection is vacated for misrepresentation.

 
• Security and human rights violations inadmissibility: the bill retains (S. 30) the highly problematic reference to "terrorism" (undefined) and adds a new category: representatives of governments against which Canada has imposed sanctions (S. 31(1)(c)). "Representative" is a broad term that could cover even a person with a relatively unimportant civil service position.

 
• The process for deciding that someone is a security risk, already extremely secretive and unfair, strips even some of the few rights people have. Currently, permanent residents facing security proceedings have access to the Security Intelligence Review Committee. But under the bill, permanent residents will be denied access and, like people with no permanent status in Canada, will have only the right of minimal review by a single judge of the Federal Court (S. 71-75).

 
• Residence in Canada: Permanent residents will need to be in Canada for two years out of each five year period, otherwise they lose their status (S. 24(2)). An immigration officer is to look at humanitarian considerations and the best interests of any child affected before removing permanent residence (S. 42(1)). Those who lose status in this way are only entitled to a paper review by the Immigration and Refugee Board (S. 58(2)).

 
• No appeals to the Immigration and Refugee Board can be made by permanent residents found inadmissible on the grounds of security, violating human rights, serious criminality or organized crime (S. 59). Serious criminality is defined here as a crime punished in Canada by a sentence of at least two years (this replaces the current highly problematic bar on appeals in criminality cases where a danger to the public certificate is issued). The two year imprisonment rule is less arbitrary than the danger to the public process, but inflexible in the face of cases where, for example, a person has been in Canada since infancy and represents no danger to the public. With respect to organized criminality, the bill does not require a two year sentence or even a conviction, just "engaging... in activities such as people smuggling". Thus a permanent resident could be deported without an appeal based simply on allegations of minimal involvement with smugglers to help a family member escape persecution.