On March 26, 2026, Canada’s new Bill C-12 became law, reported with the message, “The Government of Canada is firmly committed to doing whatever it takes to keep our border secure.” Presented last June, it has been nicknamed the ‘Strong Borders Act’ and has faced intense controversy. Some have wagered that it is reactionary to President Trump’s intensifying immigration policies in the United States.
Aimed at cracking down on “claiming asylum as a shortcut to regular immigration pathways” and “improv[ing] service delivery,” the changes take place in four areas: asylum claims, asylum processes, domestic information sharing, and immigration documentation.
Anyone seeking asylum who entered through an official border crossing must file their claim within one year of their first entry into Canada, and this applies retroactively to June 24, 2020. Anyone crossing between points of entry must make their claim within 14 days. It has already automatically canceled 19,000 pending applications.
Canada’s Border Security Agency will also hire 1,000 additional personnel and implement tougher penalties for funds intended for organized crime.
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada now has the authority to share personal information within its own department and with other Canadian government partners. They may also “cancel, suspend, or change large groups of immigration documents, pause application intake, or cancel or suspend application processing.” While this is all done under the guise of protecting “public interest”, this phrase is never properly defined.
Some are quite opposed to the bill, both on moral grounds or because they believe it will be unsuccessful. For McGill students, this section of the law contributes to the increasing uncertainty international students face – it is possible for IRCC to cancel swathes of student visas with little explanation. In addition, as pathways to permanent residency and citizenship dwindle, students are forced to consider the possibility of leaving Canada shortly after graduation. This is an example of “brain drain” – currently, foreign students come to Canada and contribute economically, often settling permanently after graduation. This helps counteract the talented young Canadian professionals leaving Canada for permanent life and careers in the United States. However, all of these proposed measures aim to streamline immigration processes by reducing the number of applications in the system at any given time.
Nicholas Fraser from the University of Toronto noted the same rhetoric used from 2006 to 2017 – that “decluttering” false asylum claims would lead to a quicker process. However, this has not proven to be true thus far, with processing times remaining just as long. He adds that this will likely remain the same for Bill C-12. His same research concludes that the key to speeding up immigration procedures might be counterintuitive for the government: it relies on migrants being able to access legal counsel.
Canada has long been seen as a “safe haven” – a place where asylum seekers know they will be met with grace. However, this might be shifting as Canada moves closer to the United States’ aggressive immigration policy. For asylum seekers already in the country who have exceeded this one-year rule, and for many prospective immigrants, this legislation will automatically cancel their applications and simply push them to illegal pathways.
Edited by Jamie Silverman
Disclaimer: This is an article written by a Staff Writer. Catalyst is a student-led platform that fosters engagement with global issues from a learning perspective. The opinions expressed above do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication.
