Hong Kong officials have issued overseas warrants for nineteen people, including Canadians. NDP MP Jenny Kwan has spoken out against previous iterations of the warrants, and she joins us for more on the latest round.
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan has called the approach illogical, urging the government to find more affordable and sustainable housing solutions. “Renting hotel rooms for asylum seekers at these costs doesn’t make sense,” Kwan said.
“We need a system that supports newcomers without straining public resources.”
‘It’s a giant mess,’ says MP Kwan
Earlier this year, IRCC announced its plans to cut 3,300 jobs from its workforce, citing Canada’s reduced immigration targets.
In November 2024, then-immigration minister Marc Miller (Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, Que.) announced drastic cuts to the targeted number of permanent residents admitted to Canada in the next two years, and tighter rules around temporary worker permits.
NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.) said the Liberals are “plowing ahead” with cuts despite persistent and prolonged delays in processing immigration cases.
“As it stands in the system, the backlog is unbelievable,” said Kwan, the NDP’s immigration critic. “Families are separated, people are being persecuted, and it can’t be processed in an expeditious way. It’s a giant mess.”
Wait times for spousal sponsorship applications outside Quebec have jumped from 12 to 24 months, she said, and applications for parents and grandparents have been frozen for two years.
Refugees who are fleeing persecution, who are “in dire straits” and are privately sponsored by Canadian citizens, can face wait times of over three years.
“This is just a snapshot of some of the problems that exist within our system,” she said. “Cuts to IRCC staff will only further delay the processing, and create greater pain and anguish for the people stuck in the system.”
In June, Mark Carney tabled the Strong Borders Act to combat organized crime, fentanyl trafficking and illegal firearms at the border. As with many border-related issues these days, it largely stems from the Trump administration. “There were a number of elements in the bill that have been irritants for the U.S., so we are addressing some of those issues,” said public safety minister Gary Anandasangaree.
While Bill C-2 cleared its first reading in the House of Commons, many aren’t sold on the legislation. Immigration experts say it dramatically rolls back long-standing protections for refugees and migrants, and civil rights advocates say it gives Ottawa sweeping new surveillance powers that infringe on Canadians’ Charter rights.
What are the privacy implications of these expanded powers?
They’re expanding the ability for police and spy agencies to demand information without a warrant—based merely on “reasonable suspicion.” Canada Post, for example, could open your mail. Public service providers like doctors could be compelled to hand over private details. The bill would also enable information to be shared with foreign entities just with the consent of a minister. Some experts, including member of Parliament and NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan, have raised concerns that American anti-abortion states could use the provision to request information from Canadian abortion clinics.
The federal government says it has spent $1.1-billion to house asylum seekers in hotels since 2017, on top of $1.5-billion it has given provinces and cities to help pay for refugee claimants’ upkeep.
Ottawa began housing asylum seekers in hotels in 2017 as a temporary stop gap as shelters were overwhelmed by increasing numbers. It started block-booking rooms to help relieve the burden on provinces and towns to accommodate the rising number of claimants.
Asylum claims have increased dramatically from 50,365 in 2017 to 173,000 in 2024 in Canada. Most arrive in Ontario and Quebec, particularly in Montreal and Toronto.
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said renting hotel rooms for asylum claimants “does not make any sense” and the government needs to find a sustainable and more affordable way to house people after they arrive here.
A $68-million project led by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that was meant to revamp Canada's outdated asylum system and enhance the integrity of the country's borders was quietly shut down last year — an "unexpected" move for some in the government because it was only partly completed, internal documents show.
Now, some critics fear the outcomes that were achieved may be more harmful than beneficial for people seeking protection in Canada.
IRCC's "asylum interoperability project" began in 2019 and was supposed to wrap up by 2022. It came during a surge of asylum seekers entering Canada, putting pressure on an already struggling system that relied heavily on paper files. Its launch followed calls for major reform.
Hundreds of health care workers in B.C. are facing the difficult decision of leaving the country or going underground due to the federal changes to the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).
These are the workers who clean, feed, and care for patients in hospitals and long-term care homes across the province. Their work is critical to a well-functioning health care system.
B.C. is at risk of losing more than 500 trained and experienced health care workers in 2025 because these workers’ permits are set to expire in the coming months.
These workers took on health care jobs to fill staffing shortages, with the promise that these jobs would lead to permanent residency.
Without warning, the federal government slashed hundreds of PNP spots in B.C. for 2025. This means that many have been left without a choice as their work permits expire and they are forced to leave their jobs in health care, and uproot from the place they’ve called home for the past few years.
Parliament needs to “just get on with it” and address the issue of “lost Canadians” through amendments to the Canada Citizenship Act, according to Jenny Kwan, NDP critic of citizenship and immigration.
She told The Hill Times that she wonders if a judge would have the patience to grant the federal government a fifth extension on a court order requiring action before the current November deadline.
“This is astounding. What the current situation is right now is that Canada’s Citizenship Act, with respect to lost Canadians, is in violation of the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms], and [Bill C-3] will make it Charter-compliant,” said Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.).
When June “Juna” Miller filed her taxes in spring, she expected a refund, but instead, she was declared legally dead.
A few weeks later, she attempted to log in to her CRA account. It didn’t work, and she called the agency.
“The woman on the phone said, ‘Well, you’re deceased.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? You’re speaking to me!'” Miller explained.
What followed was a month-long ordeal that cost her her pension, Social Insurance Number, and sense of stability.
“It took them five seconds to say I was dead… without even asking for a death certificate,” she said. “Now I’m being told it could take six months to prove I’m alive. That makes no sense to me.”
But with her account frozen and no payments coming in, she was suddenly without any source of income.
Her Social Insurance Number had been cancelled, making it impossible to access her bank account or even apply for temporary work to stay afloat.
Even Service Canada wasn’t much help, Miller claimed.
She recalls one interaction with an agent who questioned why she kept insisting she was alive, while another refused to proceed because her name didn’t match across various documents.
When Miller attempted to order a copy of her marriage certificate to fulfill the requirement, her request was denied because her ID had already been flagged as invalid.
Vancouver East MP Jenny Kwan stepped in as well, formally raising Miller’s case with the federal government.
Miller provided Daily Hive a copy of the letter dated June 30, in which Kwan wrote directly to Minister François-Philippe Champagne, asking that CRA fix the mistake immediately, restore her pension, and ensure all missed payments were sent without delay.
Resurrection, at last
On June 30, Miller received the call she’d been waiting for.
“CRA just called and I have been resurrected,” she told Daily Hive. “They’re sending an apology letter in the mail.”
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the bill was delayed in the last session of Parliament by the Liberals' failure to act in a timely fashion and a Conservative filibuster that stalled the House of Commons' work for months.
The court has given the government yet another extension, and it would be incumbent on this Parliament to make sure that legislation is passed, Kwan said.
The previous lost Canadians citizenship bill died on the order paper when the House prorogued earlier this year. The Senate was engaged in an early study of the legislation to help it become law quickly.
The new legislation, Bill C-3, proposes giving automatic citizenship to anyone denied citizenship under the current law.
It also would establish a new framework for citizenship by descent going forward. The legislation proposes Canadian citizenship could be passed down to people born abroad, beyond the first generation, if their parents spent a cumulative three years in Canada before the child's birth or adoption.
Those were the two primary goals of the original lost Canadians bill.