The New Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

April 6, 2000

The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration today introduced a sweeping new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, designed to curb criminal abuse of the immigration and refugee systems while expanding policies to attract the world’s best and brightest to Canada.

It responds to the desire expressed by Canadians for an immigration and refugee system based on respect— for our laws, for our historic openness to newcomers and our tradition of offering safe haven to those in genuine need of protection.

As the Minister said: "Closing the back door to those who would abuse the system allows us to ensure that the front door will remain open, both to genuine refugees, and to the immigrants our country will need to grow and prosper in the years ahead."

Highlights of The New Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

It introduces severe penalties-- fines of up to $1 million and life in prison-- for people smugglers and those caught trafficking in humans.

It introduces new measures to strengthen the integrity of the refugee determination system. These include:

• front-end security screening of all claimants;
      enhanced grounds for detention;
• fewer appeals to delay the removal of serious criminals; and,
• suspension of claims for those charged with crimes until the courts have rendered a decision.

It will also make the refugee determination process faster and fairer by:

• Merging current steps and protection criteria into a single decision at the Immigration and Refugee Board; and,
• By combining increased use of single-member panels with an internal paper appeal at the Board.

The new Act will deny immigration sponsorship to those convicted of spousal abuse, those in default of spousal or child support payments and those on social assistance.

It also creates new inadmissibility classes for cases involving fraud or misrepresentation on immigration applications. And it requires physical residence in Canada for at least 2 of every 5 years to maintain permanent residence.

The Minister also promised accompanying regulations over the coming months to keep the ‘front door’ open to genuine refugees and to the increased number of immigrants Canada will need to continue to grow and prosper in the 21^st century .

• A strengthened overseas refugee resettlement program;
• An expanded family class;
• New selection criteria to attract more highly-skilled and adaptable independent immigrants; and,
• The creation of an ‘in-Canada’ landing class for temporary workers, foreign students and spouses already established in Canada and wishing to stay.

The expanded family class will increase the age at which a dependent child can be sponsored from under 19 to under 22 and allow spouses and children to apply for permanent residence from within Canada.

Following upon the recent Budget announcement of new funding for strengthened overseas interdiction, more immigration officers at our ports of entry, better medical and security screening of applicants, improved capacity for the timely removals, backlog clearance across the system, and elimination of the right-of-landing fee for refugees, this new Act confirms immigration as a key priority for the Government.