Flooding the Moat, Pulling Up the Drawbridge

Canada, a country of immigrants. At least that is how it has portrayed itself since 1971 when Pierre Elliott Trudeau ushered in multiculturalism as Canadian official policy. So how did we get from embracing immigration to a country that is willing to burn international law and return asylum seekers to the United States where they can be shipped off to an El Salvadorian prison?

Mark Carney and Donald Trump is what happened. The tough talking, “I’ll handle Trump” Carney has come up with legislation so bad that it mirrors Donald Trump’s executive orders. In fact, much of it was written to assuage the fears of a maniacal, orange tinged, overgrown, petulant toddler.

“There are elements that will strengthen [our] relationships with the United States. There were a number of elements in the bill that have been irritants for the US, so we are addressing some of those issues.”

Handling the “Orange President” of the United States to acquiescing to the whims of the Hitler incarnate give tough talk a whole new meaning. The sad part though is that asylum seekers and immigrants will suffer. The public perception of these vulnerable people is one that falsely equates immigrants to crime. Immigrants and Asylum seekers commit less crime than the rest of Canada’s population. It’s statistically proven and illogical for them to come here to commit crime and threaten public safety. People leave their home and immigrate to Canada for a reason and it’s not to commit crime. They do so for a variety of reasons, those fleeing authoritarian rule, climate change refugees, family reunification and economics.

Asylum is a protected right under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Canada was instrumental in drafting & the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. We are is signatory to both. Violating international law, ones we helped establish, puts us on scale with rogue states

Bill C-12 Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act doesn’t strengthen anything aside from flooding the moat and raising the drawbridge. C-12 dramatically changes the nature of Canada. Canada is a country built on immigration, block by block. We are known for our welcoming approach. We are not America. Our immigration policy is one of cultural diversity, not one of assimilation until now.

C-12 is anti-immigration, anti-asylum legislation. It makes it virtually impossible for applicants to receive a fair, impartial consideration of their application. It provides the grants the government  substantial discretion to suspend immigration applications indefinitely. They are not obligated to inform the applicant.

C-12 grants the government can also cancel all applicants en masse from specific countries. It’s another power grab. This is the Trump playbook 2.0. You’d think after 9/11 and the amount of racism Muslims received should have taught us something. Collective punishment is another tenet racism. It  also provides Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada a great deal of latitude. C-12 allows the denial of access to an independent and fair assessment of their claims, quashes asylum seekers the right to appeal to the Immigration Refugee Board, effectively penalizing asylum seekers on arbitrary criteria.  Sensitive private information could be shared placing the individual at risk.

International students who pay tuition (much higher than domestic tuition) may find themselves on a plane out of Canada before finishing their studies. International students for many universities are its financial bread and butter. They have already faced huge tuition cuts over the past years, already cut the number of international students and now this. Our universities are floundering How many students want to risk an education in Canada, if they may very well be deported at any given time. They can’t appeal Immigration Canada’s decision because they won’t know it until they are put on a departing plane. There is no appeal process in place and this is deliberate punishment on people who have done nothing wrong.

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), an independent tribunal, has been waylaid in favour of a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA). This removes any impartiality by Immigration, Refugees And Citizenship Canada and stacks the deck against refugees, immigrants, international students and individuals who have a work visa.  Mark Carney though does welcome highly skilled immigrants and fuck the rest. 

The government can also cancel all applicants en masse from specific countries. This is the Trump playbook 2.0. You’d think after 9/11 and the amount of racism Muslims received should have taught us something. Collective punishment is another tenet of racism.

The most egregious act found in C-12 is the ability to return asylum seekers to the United States. The world is aghast when undocumented have been violently “captured” and deported on a plane to countries like El Salvador that put them in a gulag, one they most likely will never leave. Canada, the grasshopper is outperforming the master. Donald Trump’s reprehensible tactics are only through executive order, an order that can be easily be overturned. Ma