C-12 – the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act – is a second attempt to change our border policy after the negative backlash over C-2.
So C-12 is mostly a copy/paste of C-2 with a handful of changes. Because of this if you’ve already read through C-2 you already know most of what’s here. So I’m going to list what’s changed first, and then everything else that’s stayed the same will be put after.
Changes from C-2
C-2 – Part 4 – Canada Post search and seizure
The first big change here is that Part 4 of C-2 has been removed. This means Canada Post will not be given the ability to open your letters.
C-2 – Part 10 – Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (Various Measures)
A change has been made to Part 10 of C-2 (which is Part 9 of C-12) that has to do with some changes that haven’t come into force yet. The changes we’re waiting on involve companies covered by the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. Any companies that involve things like money transfers, travellers’ cheques, etc. will be expected to check if anyone they’re providing their service to is or represents someone that’s been sanctioned, charged with money laundering, funding terrorist activity, and so on. This check is good for two years, at which point they’ll have to do a check again. Anyone that doesn’t perform this check could face a fine up to $500,000 and/or 5 years in prison.
C-12 now includes a change to this, increasing the fine up to $5,000,000.
The unchanged part of Part 9 is all about money laundering and pretty much just makes things a lot stricter. For example, the maximum penalty for a person is increased from $100k to $4 million, and from $500k to $20 million if it’s an organization, and there’s ways to make it go higher than that depending on the amount of money being moved. Businesses will be required to enroll with FINTRAC, and FINTRAC will be able to investigate anyone that they believe should be enrolled but isn’t. (Note that the businesses required to enroll will all be ones that deal with large amounts of money and/or can easily be used for money laundering, such as casinos, banks, and life insurance companies. This won’t affect your standard small business.)
C-2 – Part 11 – Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (Cash Transactions)
Part 11 of C-2 has been removed. This means you will still be allowed to make cash payments, deposits, or donations of $10,000 or more.
C-2 – Part 14 – Timely Access to Data and Information
Part 14 of C-2 has been removed. This is the bit that basically gave the police the ability to dig into your online activities without a warrant.
C-2 – Part 15 – Supporting Authorized Access to Information Act
Part 15 of C-2 has been removed. This mostly just dealt with the information companies are expected to keep and have to provide to the police if the police have a warrant.
C-2 – Part 16 – Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (Collection and Use of Personal Information)
Part 16 of C-2 has been removed. This was the part that allowed the police to request information from financial institutions about you without your knowledge.
What C-12 kept
Part 1 – Customs Act
The first part of C-12 makes changes to the Customs Act to provide more facilities to the Canada Border Services Agency for use in their duties. At the moment anyone that owns a bridge, airport, wharf, etc. used for imports needs to provide the CBSA a place for storing and examining anything being brought into the country. C-12 expands this to facilities for all CBSA operations, not just inspections.
C-12 also gives the CBSA the ability to do full inspections of goods being exported and the facilities they’re being stored in. Currently they’re only allowed to inspect imports.
Part 2 – Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
Part 2 makes changes to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to make it easier for the Minister of Health to temporarily add precursor chemicals for creating fentanyl to the list of controlled substances.
Part 3 – Police Enforcement of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Cannabis Act
Part 3 changes the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Cannabis Act to exempt police from drug-related inchoate offences when they’re undertaking a legal investigation.
For anyone that hasn’t heard the term before, “inchoate offence” is a crime around a crime that hasn’t been committed yet. For example, inciting someone to violence would be an inchoate offence. No violence has happened yet but you trying to get them to commit a violent crime is itself a crime.
At the moment an officer, and anyone working under them, can be made exempt from the regulations around drugs. C-12 will make it so they can also be made exempt from being charged with the crimes of “conspiracy or attempt to commit”, “being an accessory after the fact” or “counselling in relation to” drug-related crimes. So an officer could give advice on how to smuggle drugs into the country to someone planning on doing so and they won’t be charged for it.
Author’s Note
I might be wrong but I get the feeling the police currently aren’t exempt from these crimes because it opens up a lot of opportunity for entrapment. They’ll be able to encourage and assist you in planning drug crimes then arrest you for doing them without a problem.
Part 4 – Oceans Act
Part 4 changes the role of the Coast Guard. Right now the Coast Guard works under the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and is responsible for ship safety, ice clearing, search and rescue, etc. Under C-12 any Minister can be given responsibility for the Coast Guard’s powers and duties, and the Coast Guard will also have more military roles added to their list of duties. This will include security patrols and the collection, analysis, and disclosure of information and intelligence.
Part 5 – Information Sharing — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Part 5 makes changes to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to allow the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to share someone’s personal information with other government agencies. Right now they can only share biometric data. (Fingerprints and photos). Under C-12 they’ll be allowed to share any personal information to any government agency, federal or provincial, as well as Crown Corporations. It’s worth noting that the information that can be shared needs to relate to:
- Someone’s identity and any changes to their identity
- Someone’s status and any changes to their status
- Any documents or the status of any documents issued by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Finally, any government agency will be able to share any of that information with a foreign entity. The only condition here is that the Minister needs to sign off on it.
Part 6 – Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (In-Canada Asylum System)
Part 6’s a long one with a whole lot of text that I’m not entirely sure what it does, so feel free to correct me on this one. It makes a lot of changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, starting with removing the ability to make a refugee claim outside of a port of entry.
The bulk of Part 6 seems to be funneling all refugee claims through the Ministry before they get to proceed. For example, previously claims would be assessed by an officer. If the officer believes the claim could be valid, they’ll refer it to the Immigration and Refugee Board and they’ll handle it from there. Under C-12 the officer will instead refer the claim to the Minister, and if the Minister approves it it’ll be sent to the Board. Worth noting here that the Board is an independent body, so putting the Minister between them and all new claims is going to politicize the refugee program. A big thing here is that the Minister will have the ability to set the time limits for an applicant to submit documents and attend hearings, and will have the ability to start the process of declaring a claim to be abandoned or withdrawn based on these time limits.
Part 6 also ends the Designated Country of Origin program. This was put in place back in 2012 by Stephen Harper to fast-track refugee claims from countries that were deemed “safe” and to make it easier to deport people whose claims were rejected. This includes things like not allowing appeals of the decision to reject a refugee claim. The goal was to reduce abuse of the refugee program and free up resources to process valid claims. It sounds like this didn’t really happen, and the courts eventually ruled this was a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In 2019 Justin Trudeau stopped using this program, so this bit of C-12 is just a bit of legislative clean-up.
Part 7 – Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Certain Measures in Respect of Applications and Documents)
Decent bit here but the general idea is Part 7 will allow the Minister to suspend or cancel any visas or permits to be in the country if they decide it’s in the public interest. They’ll also be able to end any applications for these visas or permits. This includes work permits, temporary resident visas, permanent residency cards, and study permits. Basically if you aren’t a citizen the government will have the ability to simply declare you can’t be here anymore.
Part 8 – Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Ineligibility)
Easy one here, Part 8 adds two new situations where someone won’t be able to make a refugee claim if they entered the country after June 24, 2020. The first is anyone who entered and waited more than a year before making their claim. The second is anyone who didn’t enter through a port of entry. In both cases people will be deemed ineligible to apply for refugee status and their applications will be denied.
Part 10 – Legislation Related to Financial Institutions (Supervisory Committee)
Part 10’s a short one, it makes it so the Director of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada a member of the committee responsible for handling how financial institutions should be regulated. This Part also allows the Director to share any information they think is important with other members of the committee.
Part 11 – Sex Offender Information Registration Act
Part 11 makes a number of changes to the Sex Offender Information Registration Act, starting with allowing the information collected to be shared with police and “other law enforcement agencies”. Before the police were the only ones that could access this information.
Reporting requirements will also be changed for people who have been registered as sex offenders. Previously if they served jail time for their crimes they had to report within 7 days of being released from jail. Now they’ll also have to report if they’re given a statutory release, full parole, day parole, or a work release. They’ll also need to report to a centre after changing their license plate number or get a new car. When the offender reports in the person they report to will now be able to record any distinguishing marks, such as tattoos, that they have. Before they only needed to mark down hair and eye colour.
Part 11 also greatly increases the information the Canada Border Services Agency can share and who they can share it with. First, as mentioned earlier, they can now share information with “law enforcement agencies”. The information they can share is:
- The name, any alias, date of birth, citizenship or nationality, and sex of an offender
- The type and number of each travel document that identifies the offender and the country or organization that issued it
- The date, time, and place of the offender’s departure or entry to Canada and the country they’re going to or coming from
- If they arrive or depart by airplane, the flight code that identifies the carrier and the flight number
Finally, we get to the part of the CBSA sharing information with foreign agencies. It’s a subtle change but an important one. Previously they only shared information with foreign agencies if it “is necessary to assist them in the prevention or investigation of a crime of a sexual nature”. Now they’ll be able to share the information if “there are reasonable grounds to believe the disclosure” will help. The important note here is that that’s a pretty big softening of the language around information sharing. “Necessary” says that the law enforcement agency needs to be able to show that the investigation cannot be completed without the information the CBSA has. “Reasonable grounds to believe” says all they have to do is convince a CBSA official that knowing when, where, and how a suspect entered the country might help. Normally sharing information when you aren’t supposed to can net you a fine of $10,000 and/or 6 months in jail, but Part 11 also adds a clause that says anyone who believes they’re following the law is exempt from this.
Progress of C-12
C-12 passed its Second Reading “on division”. This means that not everyone agrees with it but they’re willing to let it pass without needing a vote. It’s now been sent to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU).
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