The New Immigration Act: More Questions Than Answers

Ottawa”s proposed overhaul of the Immigration Act fails to live up to democratic principles and human rights norms. Many of the most important elements of the immigration and refugee system, such as refugee and immigrant selection, have been left out of the bill. These issues will be addressed in as-yet-undisclosed regulations. This approach shields key issues from public debate and input, and is therefore deeply undemocratic. The bill itself contains a number of positive measures, including the consolidation of all protection-related decisions in the Immigration and Refugee Board, and the establishment of an appeal of negative refugee determination decisions. However, the impact of these positive measures is counteracted by a series of regressive measures that seriously erode the rights of both permanent residents and refugees, and put enormous power into the hands of civil servants, without necessary safeguards. By inconsistently applying human rights norms in some contexts and violating them in others, the bill fails to demonstrate any underlying commitment to justice.

ISBN – 1-894598-02-4