MONTREAL — Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney introduced Bill C-2, the “Strong Borders Act,” to Canada’s Parliament June 3, a sweeping attack on the rights of immigrants and on the entire working class.
The Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Union of Public Employees, United Church of Canada, Oxfam Canada, and Migrant Rights Network, 176 organizations in all, joined together June 18 to call on the government to withdraw the bill. “Ensure equal rights, fair treatment and non-discriminatory access to permanent residence status for all,” their statement said, and “Uphold the Right to Asylum and due process in refugee determination.”
The government says the broad powers Bill C-2 would give it are needed to deal with “organized crime groups” and “maintaining the safety and security of our country.” But there is no such thing as “our country.” On the one hand there are the interests of capitalist rulers of Canada, which the government serves, and on the other are the interests of the working people who live and toil here.
The real aim of the bill is to divide and weaken the working class and our unions and deal blows to our rights.
Last December, Ottawa announced its plan to spend over a billion dollars on increased “security” at the U.S./Canada border, claiming this was necessary to prevent illegal migration and fentanyl smuggling. One week after introducing Bill C-2, Carney announced a major escalation in military spending, raising the outlay by over 9 billion Canadian dollars ($6.6 billion).
As the crisis of capitalism deepens, the rulers in Canada are looking to find a way to defend their resources, profits and place in the imperialist pecking order against rivals worldwide. Ottawa is also looking to deal with increasing labor resistance to rising prices and worsening working conditions. The government has stepped up attacks on the right to strike, using new laws to force rail, postal and longshore workers back to work.
Bill greatly strengthens gov’t power
Bill C-2 would bar all new asylum claims by students and temporary residents after a one-year period, even if conditions worsened in their home country. It would make it virtually impossible for most people entering Canada via the U.S. to have their refugee claim reviewed.
As a result, Amnesty International explains, “People who face persecution, torture or worse in their countries of origin could be unfairly denied refugee protection by Canada.”
The bill gives the government increased power to arbitrarily revoke or suspend “existing permanent residence visas, study and work permits, temporary resident visas and other immigration status documents” if it considers it “is in the public interest to do so.”
So-called irregular border crossers, those who don’t enter Canada at an established border point, will have only 14 days to make a refugee claim. Deportation orders will become effective the same day an asylum claim is withdrawn, greatly speeding up expulsions. Already Ottawa deports thousands of immigrants a year.
“Stigmatizing refugees and linking them to public safety problems not of their making is cruel, irresponsible and heightens their risk of facing violence, harassment and discrimination in their everyday lives,” France-Isabelle Langlois, director of Amnesty International for French-speaking Canada, told the media.
The Migrant Rights Network said the bill “Creates a Mass Deportation Machine: The bill allows officials to cancel or suspend immigration documents for ENTIRE GROUPS of people without going through the courts.”
The bill gives wide new powers to police and intelligence agencies. It gives police agencies the right to search people’s mail and to share your private information with all levels of government. It compels internet and phone providers to help police spying by installing “any device, equipment or other thing that may enable” them to commandeer information.
Katy LeRougetel, Communist League candidate for mayor of Montreal, joined a June 8 protest of 80 against the bill, organized by Solidarity Across Borders.
“Demanding permanent resident status for all immigrants now is a life-and-death question for the entire labor movement,” LeRougetel told workers she met there. “If the bosses can force some of us to accept dangerous conditions and low wages, none of us are safe.
“Our unions need to mobilize to demand: ‘No deportations!’ We need to answer the rulers’ divide-and-rule strategy with ‘An injury to one is an injury to all.’”