Humanitarian, Refugees and Foreign Affairs

We live in an interconnected world, and events transpiring worldwide ultimately affects Canadians, whether we are speaking about economic trade, global prices of goods and commodities, knowledge and skills exchange, effects of climate change, disease transmission and control, natural disaster management, and others. Fulfilling our international obligations protects and serves the interests of Canadians.

People fleeing war, persecution or natural disasters face tremendous barriers to obtaining necessary travel documents. For this reason, I have been advocating for visa-free travel for urgent, life-and-death situations such as the war in Ukraine. I have also been advocating for the government to rescind the safe third country agreement because often, refugees cannot get to safety without first going to a third country. It is paramount that Canada has an adequately resourced immigration system that can act with flexibility and expediency in times of crisis without compromising national security standards.

As your Member of Parliament, I will fight to ensure Canada fulfills its humanitarian and environmental obligations as a member of the international community.

Radio International Canada: A major immigration reform bill is now law in Canada. Some worry it rolls back refugee rights

Ottawa hopes to bring immigration under control but social advocates see legal battles ahead.

A major bill reforming immigration powers is now law in Canada, giving Ottawa powers to mass cancel groups of visas and setting time limits on asylum claims in the name of bringing immigration numbers under control.

But the legislation, passed Thursday, (new window) has also raised concerns from a coalition of civil society groups, including Amnesty International, immigration lawyers and public sector unions, that says it places too much authority in the government's hands and is vowing to fight it.

Bill C-12 attacks the rights of refugees and migrants, Julia Sande, a lawyer specializing in privacy and migrant rights at Amnesty International Canada, said in an interview with CBC News. It makes it harder for people to have their claims for refugee protection fairly assessed, so it puts people at risk of being deported to face persecution and torture.

Click image or link to read the news story - https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2242744/a-major-immigration-reform-bill-is-now-law-in-canada-some-worry-it-rolls-back-refugee-rights

HANSARD: Debating Bill C-12 Strengthening Canada's Immigration System and Borders Act

Hill Times: Feds on track with immigration cuts, but policy’s long-term impacts remain unknown, say observers

The federal government’s immigration levels plan might be working successfully according to a recent analysis, but its long-term impact remains unknown, say an opposition MP and observers.

NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.), her party’s immigration critic, told The Hill Times in a March 11 email that a Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) report offers a demographic snapshot of the government’s immigration levels plan, but does not examine the short or long-term impacts of the Liberals’ “drastic” policy changes.

“Immigration policy cannot be judged by population projections alone. We must look at the real consequences these decisions are having on people, families, communities, and the economy,” she said.

HANSARD: Opposition Motion—Interim Federal Health Program Debate

Click below to read the Hansard of Jenny's speech and debate

Radio-Canada: Where is Canada's immigration minister? Community groups are asking

MPs question Lena Diab's performance at question period and in committee

Criticism is coming not only from opposition parties, but also from Diab's own Liberal colleagues.

Away from the cameras, 10 Liberal MPs spoke to Radio-Canada about her performance. They were granted confidentiality in order to express themselves freely.

Of those, only one defended Diab's job performance. Although several of them emphasized that she is a "good person" in charge of a "difficult" portfolio, nine MPs said they believe that the minister is overwhelmed and are openly questioning her place at the cabinet table.

"It doesn't make sense. In the House of Commons, many MPs hold their breath when she answers questions from the opposition," said one Liberal elected official.

"We're afraid she'll put her foot in her mouth."

New Democrat Jenny Kwan, her party's immigration critic, said that both Carney and Diab are responsible for how the immigration file is handled.

"That responsibility is to be responsive to stakeholders, to take these issues seriously, to examine the policies, to evaluate them, to hear from opposition and the public and look for ways to improve them," she said.

"That is their job."

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/lena-diab-immigration-minister-criticism-9.7103914

Hill Times: Failed asylum-seeker motion shows Conservatives ‘smelled blood in the water’ with minister, immigration as wedge issue, say politicos

Conservatives are capitalizing on the recent drop in public support for immigration, but risk being seen as too MAGA adjacent, say observers. Meanwhile, the immigration minister's own colleagues question her handling of the file.

The Conservatives’ defeated motion targeting health-care coverage for asylum claimants shows weaknesses on both the part of the Liberal immigration minister and the official opposition leader, with MAGA-like rhetoric posing political risk for the latter, observers say.

Jordan Leichnitz, a former NDP strategist who now works for the German non-profit Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, told The Hill Times in a Feb. 26 interview that the Conservatives’ pressure on the immigration file is a reflection of their own political fragility.

“To me, it’s a manifestation of their political weakness right now. They turn to these arguments because they’re very mobilizing for segments of their base at moments where they feel politically more vulnerable,” she said.

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/02/28/failed-asylum-seeker-motion-shows-conservatives-smelled-blood-in-the-water-with-minister-immigration-as-wedge-issue-say-politicos/493465/

CPAC HEADLINE POLITICS: NDP MP Jenny Kwan Urges Govt Help for Palestinians with Relatives in Canada

At a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Jenny Kwan, the NDP critic for immigration and citizenship, calls on the federal government to reform its Special Immigration Measures program to assist Palestinians with relatives in Canada. She is joined by individuals with family members who have been impacted by the Israel–Gaza conflict. (February 26, 2026) (no interpretation)

Click image or link to watch the Ottawa press conference - https://www.cpac.ca/headline-politics/episode/ndp-mp-jenny-kwan-urges-govt-help-for-palestinians-with-relatives-in-canada?id=3332099f-645c-4f9d-917e-0d0b0a7c346f

Toronto Star: Girl, 8, pleads with Ottawa to help reunite with her mother, stuck in Gaza: ‘Please Canada, try your best to help me’

Standing beside a podium in a roomful of adults, Joury Alyazji begged Canada to help her reunite with her mother, who is still trapped in war-torn Gaza.

“This month is Ramadan and my mom is not with me,” said the eight-year-old girl, with the microphone held tightly in her hands.

“I wish that every time when I wake up, I can see my mom. And I wish Canada can help me to bring my mom. I cannot be alone. I’m trying my best to speak English. I am trying to do everything to bring my mom. I wish Canada can help me. Please Canada, try your best to help me please.”

On Thursday, Joury was speaking at an Ottawa news conference to call on the federal government to urgently reform and speed up the special immigration program launched in January 2024 to provide temporary refuge to Palestinians with relatives in Canada.

Ottawa has capped the intakes for the program at 5,000 applications, which have since been filled, but many applicants are still stranded inside Gaza, unable to submit biometrics for screening or in Egypt awaiting processing.

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/girl-pleads-with-ottawa-to-help-reunite-with-mom-in-gaza/article_d12bf69c-219b-4ca1-88a2-eeb85b821f28.html

Media Release: Families Separated by Gaza Siege Urge Federal Government to  Immediately Reform and Expedite Special Immigration Measures

Ottawa — Families deeply impacted by the Israeli attacks on Gaza joined MP Jenny Kwan to call on the federal government to urgently reform and accelerate the Special Immigration Measures program established to provide refuge to Palestinians with relatives in Canada.

In January 2024, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) introduced a temporary public policy intended to offer safe haven to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip with family ties in Canada. The government assured Canadians that if they had loved ones in Gaza, they could apply to bring them to safety. More than a year later, families say the program’s incredibly slow processing times and structural barriers have left many separated and at deep risk.

“By all accounts, this seems to be a system and a process set up by the federal government that is ultimately designed to fail. The promise of humanitarian assistance offered by Canada is, by all intents and purposes, a fiction for far too many families that have suffered through the bloodshed in Gaza,” said MP Jenny Kwan.

iPOLITICS: Conservatives introduce motion to restrict temporary health coverage

Opposition party calls on the government to restrict federal benefits received by rejected asylum claimants to emergency life saving health care only.

The Conservative Party introduced a motion in Parliament Tuesday proposing to restrict temporary healthcare coverage for asylum claimants.

This comes after a report published by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) highlighted cost pressures associated with asylum claim volumes, detailing that between 2020 to 2025, the cost of the temporary health care program (IFHP) saw a 325 per cent increase, from $211 million to $896 million.

That program provides limited and temporary coverage for urgent and essential health care services, like prescription drug benefits, to government-sponsored refugees and asylum seekers.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner argued “two-tiered Liberal policies” favour non-citizens over Canadians and called on the federal government to “make the system fair,” at a press conference on Tuesday.

In a statement, NDP Immigration Critic Jenny Kwan said the Conservative’s motion is “counterproductive.” She said it won’t eliminate cost, instead it shifts the burden to hospital emergency rooms and provincial systems that have more expensive treatment costs.

“Emergency-only models create worse health outcomes and higher long-term costs,” NDP MP Jenny Kwan said.

Co-payment provision not enough, say tories

The federal government recently introduced a co-payment provision to IFHP that includes $4 for each eligible prescription medication and 30 per cent of the cost of other eligible supplemental health products and services, like dental care, vision care, counselling and assistive devices. It is set to take effect in May.

Kwan said a co-payment model ignores “decades” of health policy evidence that demonstrates user fees could deter access to essential care for low-income and medically vulnerable populations.

“The refugees and refugee claimants covered by IFHP often arrive in Canada after surviving war, persecution, torture, and prolonged displacement,” Kwan said. “They have extremely limited financial means”