NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan questioned why the Ukrainian emergency visa program has not been repeated for people in other conflict zones.
“The government has announced measures for those who have already left Lebanon, but nothing for those who are in still in grave danger and desperate to get to safety, Kwan said.
When reached for comment, NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the new measures are an abrupt shift from past policy.
“This about face from Prime Minister Trudeau is a shameless and insidious attempt to use newcomers such as migrants, international students, and asylum seekers as political cover,” Kwan said in a statement emailed to the Star.
It’s a dangerous game on Trudeau’s part, said Kwan, in trying to “shift the blame for his failures” to asylum seekers — one she called “a recipe to further hype-up hate, resentment and discrimination toward racialized people.
“Instead of wasting $250,000 on advertising, they should be investing those resources in processing applications,” said Kwan.
Political opposition has also been vocal. NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan accused the government of scapegoating migrants for systemic issues, such as the housing crisis. Kwan called for a reversal of recent immigration changes, questioning their fairness to temporary residents and international students.
In response, Miller maintained that becoming a Canadian citizen is not a right.
In a statement, Kwan’s lawyer, Sujit Choudhry, said Woo’s allegation that the MP’s testimony was “flimsy” is “false and misleading.”
“It was CSIS who informed MP Kwan in a classified briefing that she was a long-time target of (Chinese Communist Party) interference and will remain an ‘evergreen target.’ MP Kwan testified and brought to the commissioner’s attention that she believed she had been de-platformed by Chinese community organizations,” Choudhry wrote in a statement to Global News.
Choudhry noted that CSIS officials testified that Beijing works through proxy agents in Canada’s Chinese diaspora and that Kwan is concerned the Chinese government used those proxies to target her for her advocacy on human rights issues in China.
“Senator Woo has every right to turn a blind eye to foreign interference actors and activities. MP Kwan chooses to use her voice to speak up and speak out to protect and defend Canada’s democratic institutions and processes.”