Immigration & Surveillance Act

What It Does

Bill C-12 repackages the most contentious surveillance provisions from C-2 and layers on sweeping immigration powers. The bill allows cancellation of visas and permanent resident cards "in the public interest". The amendments have required that it be authorized by an Order-in-Council approval, meaning a full Cabinet decision rather than the whim of a single minister. That distinction means little for those affected, as it still violates our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 7 (life, liberty, security) and Section 15 (equality). Although it is a political body, not an independent order, making life-altering decisions about people with no individual review or right of appeal is still very concerning and sets a precedent for government overreach. The bill also imposes retroactive one-year bars on asylum claims, meaning people who made decisions before this law existed are punished under it. It facilitates the sharing of personal information across agencies and with foreign governments, and it will adopt an enforcement-first drug policy that reverses evidence-based harm reduction. It passed the House 327–8 and received Royal Assent on March 26, 2026.

Primary Concerns

• The UN Human Rights Committee explicitly criticized the bill for "undermining critical procedural safeguards for refugees"
• The Standing Senate Committee recommended deleting the immigration and refugee provisions due to "human rights, privacy and due process concerns", the government ignored every significant amendment
• Retroactive bars punish asylum seekers for decisions made before the law was passed, a fundamental breach of legal fairness
• Status cancellations require Order-in-Council (Cabinet) approval, but a political Cabinet, not an independent court, is still making irreversible decisions about individuals with no individual hearing or right of appeal
• Facilitates sharing of refugees' and migrants' personal information across agencies and with foreign governments
• Puts thousands of individuals at documented risk of persecution, violence, and precarity, according to the Canadian Council for Refugees
• Repackages C-2 surveillance powers after public backlash, same powers, rebranded
• Drug policy provisions ignore decades of public health evidence; accelerated scheduling will worsen the toxic supply crisis

Sources