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.

Canadian Press: House of Commons set to rise for six-week holiday break

Just before the House rose, MPs passed two pieces of legislation -- C-4 and C-12 -- which will now head to the Senate for consideration there.

Bill C-4 amends marginal personal income tax rates, eliminates the consumer carbon price and implements a temporary GST rebate for first-time homebuyers. The carbon price has been set to zero since April but this bill eliminates it through legislation.

Bill C-12, a revised version of a border bill, introduces new measures to help the Canada Border Services Agency tackle drug and gun smuggling and auto theft, as well as controversial changes to Canada’s refugee and asylum seeker regimes.

On Tuesday, NDP MPs Leah Gazan and Jenny Kwan joined with refugee and human rights advocates to implore the government not to pass the legislation. They called the legislation an attack on vulnerable people that will do little to make our borders safer but will fuel racism.

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/house-of-commons-set-to-rise-for-six-week-holiday-break/

HANSARD: Speech and debate against Bill C-12

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

CPAC: NDP MPs Discuss Liberals’ Border Bill

NDP MPs Jenny Kwan and Leah Gazan hold a news conference on Parliament Hill to discuss Bill C-12, the Liberal government’s border security bill. They are joined by representatives from women’s organizations and advocates for immigrant and refugee rights. (December 9, 2025) (no interpretation)

Click image or link to watch the press conference video - https://www.cpac.ca/headline-politics/episode/ndp-mps-discuss-liberals-border-bill?id=4387467a-f6bc-4914-8f9a-57162568dfc6

Media Release: NDP MPs Join Women’s Organizations and Migrant Rights Advocates Condemning Bill C-12

NDP MPs Join Women’s Organizations and Migrant Rights Advocates Condemning Bill C-12

OTTAWA—NDP MPs Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre) and Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) are standing alongside women’s organizations and migrant rights advocates calling on all Members of Parliament to reject the Liberals’ border and immigration legislation, Bill C-12, expected to be voted on at third reading this week.

“With Bill C-12, we’re again seeing the Liberals abandon their commitments to gender equality, pushing through legislation straight out of Trump’s playbook,” said Gazan. “Bill C-12 would place greater restrictions on women asylum seekers fleeing gender based violence, and would force many to stay in abusive relationships or unsafe working conditions as their immigration or refugee status is made more precarious. It clearly undermines women’s safety, but the Liberals do not seem to care.”

Among those joined by Gazan and Kwan include representatives of Fédération des femmes du Québec, Amnesty International, Centre des travailleurs et travailleuses immigrants, Action Réfugiés Montréal, and the Canadian Council for Refugees. According to these organizations, Bill C-12 retains many of the human rights violating provisions from the Government’s border bill, Bill C-2, which disproportionately harm women and gender diverse populations.

As NDP critic for Public Safety, MP Kwan shared her disappointment that the Liberals, Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois voted down NDP amendments to minimize harms on newcomers and asylum claimants. Civil society organizations have said loud and clear that Bill C-12 should be withdrawn. Despite that, the Liberals worked hand in glove with the Conservatives and Bloc to push it through the legislative process.

"Canada should not be violating migrants’ rights, especially those of women and children,” Kwan said. “I am dismayed that the Liberals have joined hands with both the Conservatives and Bloc to reject all of the NDP amendments, including amendments to exempt unaccompanied children, survivors of gender based violence and 2SLGBTQI+ members from being arbitrarily sent back to war zones, places ravaged by environmental disaster or where they face persecution due to their sexual orientation or gender identity."

“This bill is a total affront to dignity, fairness, due process and gender equality. The NDP will continue to fight for the rights of newcomers, migrants and refugees," said Kwan.

Hill Times: Liberal border bill returns to the House after Conservative, Bloc enhancements at committee

Recognized opposition parties are signalling they remain open to advancing the Liberals’ updated border bill that would expand federal powers to deny entry to Canada and to remove migrants already here. And despite their amendments being “expeditiously rejected,” the NDP and a broad coalition of migrant and civil liberties groups are reaffirming their demands to withdraw a bill they say would make former prime minister Stephen Harper blush.

“If this bill had been introduced under a Conservative government, the Liberals would be the first out there howling [against it], louder than anyone,” NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.), her party’s immigration and public safety critic, told The Hill Times.

Introduced on Oct. 8, Bill C-12, the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act, updates the Liberals’ stalled Bill C-2, one of several omnibus bills introduced by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s (Nepean, Ont.) new government in June.

It would also give the government significant new powers to crack down on asylum seekers, and block or cancel visa applications. Those powers, first proposed in C-2, also attracted plenty of criticism outside Parliament, but have been included in the new bill essentially unaltered.

On Nov. 24, a coalition of civil society and immigration advocates held a press conference on Parliament Hill to “denounce” Bill C-12, and to demand its withdrawal.

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2025/12/03/liberal-border-bill-returns-to-the-house-after-conservative-bloc-enhancements-at-committee/484314/

Canadian Press News: Sale of Canadian armoured vehicles to ICE agency ‘deeply troubling’: Kwan

OTTAWA -- Anti-armament advocates say Canadian firms shouldn’t be selling armoured military vehicles to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or any other organizations with sketchy human rights records.

NDP MP Jenny Kwan said Wednesday she’s “deeply” and “profoundly” troubled because the ICE agency has been credibly accused of human rights abuses.

“I think Canadians expect our industries and our government to uphold human rights domestically and internationally, and not enable the further militarization of an organization whose conduct already puts vulnerable people at great risk,” she told The Canadian Press.

“This contract raises serious questions about Canada’s role and responsibility when it comes to our technology and products being deployed abroad.”

U.S. government procurement records show ICE recently placed a rush order for a fleet of 20 armoured vehicles made by Brampton, Ont.-based Roshel.

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.cp24.com/news/money/2025/12/03/sale-of-canadian-armoured-vehicles-to-ice-agency-deeply-troubling-kwan/

Statement on C-12 amendments being rejected by committee

Statement from MP Jenny Kwan on Bill C-12 Amendments Being Rejected at Public Safety and National Security Committee

I condemn the Public Safety Committee’s decision to reject vital amendments to Bill C-12. This legislation is a dangerous step backwards for refugee rights in Canada. The Liberals should be criticized for taking their direction from Conservatives and even from Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant playbook, rushing the bill forward with minimal consultation and ignoring the voices of those most knowledgeable about its consequences. Critical stakeholders—including the Canadian Council for Refugees—were not even invited to appear as witnesses. Instead, the Liberals teamed up with the Bloc and Conservatives to force the bill through committee without proper scrutiny.

Bill C-12 embeds a stigmatizing narrative that treats refugees as security threats rather than human beings seeking protection. Its arbitrary one-year bar on making an asylum claim—applied retroactively—will endanger people who only later face persecution.

The bill’s sweeping information-sharing powers, which the Liberals refused to limit despite clear warnings from Amnesty International, the Canadian Bar Association and refugee advocates. Without safeguards, personal data could be shared across government departments and level of government, increasing the risk that LGBTQ+ claimants or survivors of gender-based violence could be inadvertently outed—placing them in serious danger.

The Liberals, supported by the Bloc and Conservatives, rejected amendments that would have prevented claimants from being trapped in pre-screening limbo; ensured clear limits on documents the Minister can demand; protected vulnerable people from wrongful “abandonment” of claims; maintained timelines for Refugee Appeal Division decisions; ensured access to a fair pre-removal risk-assessment hearing; set parliamentary oversight over sweeping “public interest” cancellation powers; and prevented retroactive, unjust application of new rules.

Bill C-12 is being pushed through by the Liberals, Conservatives and Bloc Québécois working hand-in-hand to take this regressive turn. Copying Trump-style policies is discriminatory, dangerous, and fundamentally un-Canadian.

Globe & Mail: Federal budget 2025: Foreigners living in Canada will get permanent residence priority, Immigration Minister says

On Tuesday the federal government announced a dramatic cut in the number of temporary residents – halving admissions of international students to Canada in the next three years, while stabilizing the number of permanent residents.

Ms. Diab was unavailable for comment. Unusually, the annual levels plan was unveiled in the budget and is being spearheaded by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, rather than the Immigration Minister.

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the government’s plan “represents a disappointing retreat from Canada’s historical role as a welcoming, progressive and inclusive country for immigrants, refugees, international students and temporary foreign workers.”

She said the decision to slash international student numbers, coming on top of previous reductions, will “further devastate colleges and universities and the communities that rely on them, while causing job losses across the country.”

Click link to read the news story - https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-permanent-residence-freeze-canada-diab-federal-budget-2025/

Canada Press: Federal officials are not sure when immigration levels plan is coming

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said it’s “unacceptable” that the plan could come after the Nov. 1 deadline.

“Communities, newcomers, and settlement agencies are left in limbo, unsure of what impact of the levels plan will have for Canadians and newcomers. This delay shows a lack of transparency and accountability from a government that claims to value immigration but can’t even meet its own deadlines, defined by law,” Kwan said in an emailed statement.

Bernhard said most people receiving permanent residency are already in Canada, usually on either a work or study permit. He said the system needs certainty in order to attract global talent to the workforce.