News from ICLMG

Stop Bill C-2 and protect our rights!


Since you’re here…

… we have a small favour to ask. Here at ICLMG, we are working very hard to protect and promote human rights and civil liberties in the context of the so-called “war on terror” in Canada. We do not receive any financial support from any federal, provincial or municipal governments or political parties. You can become our patron on Patreon and get rewards in exchange for your support. You can give as little as $1/month (that’s only $12/year!) and you can unsubscribe at any time. Any donations will go a long way to support our work.panel-54141172-image-6fa93d06d6081076-320-320You can also make a one-time donation or donate monthly via Paypal by clicking on the button below. On the fence about giving? Check out our Achievements and Gains since we were created in 2002. Thank you for your generosity!
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New Border Bill Raises Major Concerns for Civil Liberties, Privacy, and Refugee Rights

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, the Minister of Public Safety, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Immigration and the Prime Minister to urge them to reject the bill and ask that it be withdrawn:

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Since you’re here…

… we have a small favour to ask. Here at ICLMG, we are working very hard to protect and promote human rights and civil liberties in the context of the so-called “war on terror” in Canada. We do not receive any financial support from any federal, provincial or municipal governments or political parties. You can become our patron on Patreon and get rewards in exchange for your support. You can give as little as $1/month (that’s only $12/year!) and you can unsubscribe at any time. Any donations will go a long way to support our work.panel-54141172-image-6fa93d06d6081076-320-320You can also make a one-time donation or donate monthly via Paypal by clicking on the button below. On the fence about giving? Check out our Achievements and Gains since we were created in 2002. Thank you for your generosity!
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What we’ve been up to so far in 2025: Help us protect civil liberties for the rest of the year!

Credit: Tom Bastin/Flickr CC BY 2.0

Here is what we’ve accomplished so far in 2025 thanks to your support:

Open letter to the new Prime Minister and government

To introduce ourselves, our work and to push for necessary changes early on, we sent an open letter to the Prime Minister and new Minister of Public Safety detailing key actions the government should take to protect human rights and civil liberties in the context of national security and countering “terrorism,” along with a press release sharing the details of the letter.

2025 Federal Election

Bill C-20: Public Complaints and Review Commission Act

Bill C-20, which will create a new, independent review agency for both the RCMP and CBSA, was adopted in October 2024. This new agency replaces the current RCMP review body and is the first ever independent review body for the CBSA. The creation of an independent review body for the CBSA has been a longstanding, key demand and advocacy priority of the ICLMG. Since Dec. 2024, ICLMG:

  • Wrote to the Public Safety asking for updates on the timeline for establishment of the PCRC
  • Met with the CBSA Director General, International and Border Policy, to discuss delay in implementation of the PCRC
  • Pushed for fast-tracking the watchdog’s creation in our open letter to the new Prime minister and government
  • Will continue to work on bringing improvements to the new review body throughout the regulation process and as it is established

Help us fight for justice and human rights.
Donate to the ICLMG!

Bill C-27: Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022

Bill C-27 was the government’s proposed update to Canada’s private sector privacy law. It would have increased powers granted to the Privacy Commissioner, created a new tribunal, and enacted a new Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA). Through our work raising major concerns, including coordinating broad civil society responses, the government was forced to react with substantial amendments. It also resulted in the bill’s progress being delayed because of the level of concerns and controversy, resulting in it dying with prorogation. While our hope was to see the government remove AIDA from the bill and hold consultations, preventing a flawed regulatory framework that would have enshrined weak regulations is still considered a success. Since Dec. 2024, ICLMG:

  • Continued to monitor progress of the bill and engage with MPs regarding amendments
  • Continued to organize the national “AIDA Network” with partner organizations and privacy experts to discuss strategy around AI, safety and human rights/civil liberties
  • Worked with member of the network to transition it into a broader network focussing on AI and Digital Policy more broadly

Online Harms

The federal government introduced Bill C-63 in February 2024. Known as the “Online Harms Act,” it responded to many of our concerns with the government’s original “online harms” proposal from 2021, but several aspects of the bill continued to raise serious concerns. Because of the controversial nature of several sections in the bill, it was delayed in the House of Commons, and did not pass before prorogation. On the topic, ICLMG:

Foreign Interference

Following the rushed adoption of the Countering Foreign Interference Act, we have continued to raise concerns with these new laws in various aspects of our work. This included participating in the federal inquiry into foreign interference. Since Dec. 2024, we have:


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