OTTAWA — Immigration Minister Lena Diab's office is defending new rules that may strike down thousands of refugee claims, saying difficult decisions are required to regain control of Canada's immigration system.
Under Ottawa's new border law C-12, which passed in March, refugee claims must be made within a year of a claimant's first arrival in Canada in order to go through the regular refugee process.
The changes are retroactive to June 24, 2020, and the rule applies to all claims made on or after June 3, 2025. The department estimates about 30,000 existing claimants have been sent notices warning their claims may now be deemed ineligible.
Those claimants include a Palestinian man who donated a kidney to his Canadian sister in 2023, during a roughly seven-week stay in Canada, and an Iranian political activist whose identity was leaked to the regime in July 2025, after the one-year rule took retroactive effect.
Jenny Kwan, the NDP's immigration critic, called the one-year rule "arbitrary" and "draconian" and said people with claims that seem to be legitimate are now being told they may no longer be eligible.
"It is not assessing people on the basis of whether or not they are a genuine refugee … but rather it is a completely arbitrary timeline that the Liberals have imposed, regardless of people's situation," Kwan told The Canadian Press.
