The Liberal government has introduced a sweeping new national security and border omnibus bill, Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act.
We are still analyzing the bill, but it is already highly troubling. Many aspects of the bill have little to nothing to do with “securing the border,” and many aspects that do relate to the border present a significant threat to human rights and civil liberties. It is clear that, under the guise of addressing border security and placating the Trump administration, the government is seeking unrelated powers that they have unsuccessfully attempted to obtain in the past, and which will have wide-ranging negative impacts.
While further study may result in other areas of concern, key aspects we have identified so far include:
- Changes to the Canada Post Act would allow Canada Post (based on regulations approved by Cabinet) to open and search letter mail, which is currently prohibited.
- Changes to the Oceans Act would transform the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) into a security force, allowing them to engage in “security patrols and the collection, analysis and disclosure of information or intelligence.” There is no independent oversight or review body for the CCG.
- Changes to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Act and Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) would allow for the widespread sharing of the personal information of individuals immigrating to Canada with other government departments, as well as with foreign entities (with some minimal safeguards in place).
- Other changes to IRPA would severely and arbitrarily limit the ability of individuals to claim asylum in Canada, in violation of international human rights law. This includes requiring asylum claims to be made within one year of an individual arriving in Canada, ignoring that circumstances can change in one’s country of origin at any moment; this goes even further than current US limitations on refugee claims, which allows for some exceptions. Amendments to IRPA would also change the rules for refugee claimants who enter Canada from the US between ports of entry – rules that were already made too restrictive under the Safe Third Country Agreement with the US. Currently, refugees are able to make an asylum claim after being in Canada for 14 days; the bill would eliminate this possibility completely. This would force even more claimants to remain in the US, although it is not a safe country for refugees.
- Changes to IRPA will also allow the government to cancel or suspend groups of immigration documents (visas, for example), pause the acceptance of new applications, or pause/cancel applications already in the queue, on the basis of the “public interest” including national security – which could allow for the mass cancelation or suspension of the processing of individuals from certain countries, or under certain kinds of visas or immigration documents, etc., similar to what we have seen in the US.
- The bill once again resurrects efforts to establish “lawful access” powers for police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which many previous governments have attempted to legislate. Changes to the Criminal Code and CSIS Act would make it easier for these agencies to access information such as IP addresses, including without a warrant in urgent circumstances. It would also allow law enforcement and intelligence agencies to request this information from foreign entities, and open the door to reciprocal requests (ie, foreign governments requesting information and data held in Canada).
- Bill C-2 would also create a new Supporting Authorized Access to Information Act that would oblige “electronic service providers” (email providers, social media platforms, internet service providers, etc.) to ensure that they operate in a way that allows them to fully comply with requests to access or intercept information and communications (for example, ensuring information held by email providers is organized and stored in a way that it can be accessed by police or CSIS). Despite assurances that “backdoors” into encryption would not be required from ESPs, the bill allows for the Governor in Council to make regulations respecting the meaning of “encryption”, raising concerns that the government’s definition could circumvent those assurances.
Given the breadth of these concerns and dangers to civil liberties and human rights that they present, we call on the government and MPs to withdraw Bill C-2. If the government is serious about addressing concerns regarding illegal gun and drug trafficking, it must introduce legislation specifically tailored to that goal, as opposed to a wide-ranging omnibus bill. In the event of any new legislation to replace Bill C-2, the government should ensure to fully consult with civil liberties, privacy, migrant and refugee rights experts before it is introduced.
We encourage you to contact your MP and urge them to reject the bill and ask that it be withdrawn:
Feel free to CC the Minister of Public Safety and the Minister of Justice in your email to your MP:
ps.ministerofpublicsafety-ministredelasecuritepublique.sp@canada.ca, mcu@justice.gc.ca
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