Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act


Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act, or Bill C-31, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, the Marine Transportation Security Act and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Act, is an act of the 41st Canadian Parliament, sponsored by the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney. It was introduced on 16 February 2012 and received Royal Assent on 28 June 2012.
The following changes were made by the bill:
Jason Kenney claimed that the bill is necessary to protect the refugee system, and that it would address the number of "bogus refugees" and claimants from European Union democracies.

Criticism

criticized the bill, saying that it broke the compromise previously reached within the government and that it "puts too much power in the hands of the minister".
Amnesty International, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and the Canadian Council for Refugees called for the withdrawal of the bill, claiming that it has provisions that would "arbitrarily detain groups of refugees; keep parents, children and spouses apart for years; undermine the fairness of the refugee claim and protection process; introduce the use of biometrics; and authorize the stripping of permanent residence from refugees", and "gives Ministers broad, unfettered and unprecedented powers".
Human Rights Watch also criticized the bill, saying that "ubjecting 16- and 17-year-old children to mandatory, unreviewable detention backtracks on Canada’s commitments to children", and that "e believe it is impossible to make a blanket determination that any country is safe for everyone and would never produce a refugee".