Demonstrators oppose border Bill C-2 in Montreal

Demonstrators gathered in Montreal on Sunday to voice their opposition to federal Bill C-2, aimed at strengthening border security. The bill includes a number of immigration measures that are of concern to organisations.

Around 80 people gathered outside the offices of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada in downtown Montreal for the demonstration organised by Solidarity Across Borders.

Participants chanted “A status for all” or “Solidarity with refugees.”

“Bill C-2 really came as a shock to us. It’s only been a few years since the Liberal Party promised a mass regularisation programme. Instead, we are now faced with a bill that will enormously [affect] the situation of undocumented people in Canada and those with precarious status, and which will also increase the number of undocumented people in Canada,” argued Mary Foster, a Solidarity Across Borders activist present at the demonstration.

For Foster, the bill, which claims to want to ensure border security, will not guarantee the security of communities.

“It will even make it more difficult to cross the border in a safe and healthy way. More people will die at the border. We know that people will continue to cross borders,” she said.

The activist also deplores the ideas behind the bill, which she says portray refugees and immigrants as a threat to Canadians.

“We are all human beings, we are all equal, we are all supposed to have the rights of movement, freedom and security,” said Foster.

“In place of Bill C-2, Solidarity Across Borders is calling for a mass programme to regularise the status of immigrants. The organization is also calling for immigrant workers to be granted permanent residency as soon as they are accepted in Canada,” explained Foster.

Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree tabled the bill, which includes an entire section dedicated to immigration, last Tuesday.

Bill C-2 contains provisions to give the government the power, “if it considers that it is in the public interest to do so,” to “cancel or amend permanent or temporary resident visas, work permits, study permits, temporary resident permits, electronic travel authorizations, permanent resident cards or any other document” relating to immigration.

In addition, if the bill is passed, asylum claims filed more than a year after a potential refugee has set foot in Canada will be deemed inadmissible and transferred to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, which is normally responsible for assessing such claims.

The same would apply to asylum claims made 14 days after a person has arrived irregularly in Canada by land.

This bill comes at a time when US President Donald Trump has been pressing Ottawa for months to take measures to stem the flow of immigrants south.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews