Bill to fight human smuggling only punishes its victims Explore
This Story Parliament is currently debating legislation that
would require one-year, mandatory detention for certain migrants
arriving in Canada, including 16- and 17-year-old children.
Ostensibly intended to prevent human smuggling, this bill in
fact punishes victims of human smuggling, including those
desperately fleeing persecution and violence. The detention
provisions in Bill C-31, the Protecting Canada’s Immigration
System Act, would allow the citizenship and immigration minister
to “designate” groups of people arriving in Canada who would
automatically be sent into detention for a year if the minister
either has “reasonable grounds to suspect” they were smuggled or
thinks examination of the group’s members cannot be conducted in
“a timely manner.” The limited exceptions to year-long detention
are unlikely to result in practical relief. What would
constitute a group is not defined and could technically include
as few as two people travellin