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)
LILLEY: "This is nothing but Trump derangement syndrome on full display."
"Kwan has no problem with these vehicles being sent around the world to be used in an actual war, she’s just against the Americans using them to defend their borders and keep their law enforcement officials safe. She’s against ICE using them because she’s opposed to the Trump administration and their policies around deporting people in their country illegally, in particular criminals and gang members.
For the past several months she’s been speaking up in favour of Kneecap, an Irish musical act known for supporting terrorist groups that was blocked from coming to Canada by the Mark Carney government.
That’s the kind of person Jenny Kwan is, opposed to safety for American law enforcement but in favour of bringing Irish musicians who support terror groups into the country."
"For the past several months she’s been speaking up in favour of Kneecap, an Irish musical act known for supporting terrorist groups that was blocked from coming to Canada by the Mark Carney government.
That’s the kind of person Jenny Kwan is, opposed to safety for American law enforcement but in favour of bringing Irish musicians who support terror groups into the country."
The pending purchase by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of 20 bullet-and bomb-resistant armored vehicles from a Canadian manufacturer – first revealed by The Independent – has generated intense backlash north of the border, where lawmakers are now exploring ways they might halt the multimillion-dollar sale.
Following The Independent’s report on Monday, Jenny Kwan, a New Democratic Party member of Parliament who represents Vancouver East, said she was “deeply” and “profoundly” troubled by the news in light of credible accusations of human rights abuses by the U.S. immigration enforcement agency. It has so far made nearly 600,000 arrests in 2025, and has faced fierce criticism over its aggressive, unyielding tactics.
“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,” Kwan 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.”
Kwan said Canadian law contains intentional loopholes that allow military gear to be sold to the United States without the same level of governmental oversight that would be applied to that same gear being exported to other nations. She told the wire service that she will be proposing revisions to a bill she sponsored in January, prohibiting sales of military items to problematic regimes, that would close those loopholes and prevent such materiel from going to the U.S.
“It’s profoundly concerning that a Canadian manufacturer is supplying specialized military grade vehicles built to withstand bullets and bomb blasts to an agency whose practices have long raised alarms amongst humanitarian organizations,” Kwan told The Globe and Mail.
In a television interview with Global News, Canada’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy, who served under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and now chairs the World Refugee & Migration Council, called for the Canadian government to intervene.
“Are we prepared to stand up to Mr. Trump and the illegality of what he's doing and say that Canada still is a voice for fairness and justice and protection of people's rights?” Axworthy asked.
OTTAWA — NDP MP Jenny Kwan is dismissing an internal Liberal caucus document as a "fearmongering" attempt to dissuade government MPs from supporting her bill to tighten oversight of defence-related exports.
"I think it's designed to confuse Liberal members, to be honest with you," Kwan said, describing the briefing document as "out-and-out disinformation."
The leaked caucus briefing document claims that the bill put forward by Kwan would "decimate" Canada's defence industry and "dismantle" defence sector trade with the U.S. — and even invite retaliation.
The document, obtained by The Canadian Press and Kwan herself, was circulated weeks ago and arms Liberal MPs with blunt talking points that call the legislation "misguided" and claim it would add red tape that would delay defence exports and "compromise our sovereignty."
The document suggests the legislation would hamper Canada's role in NATO, jeopardize the military's operational efficiency and even delay aid to Ukraine.
Kwan said she can easily rebut those claims when she lobbies MPs from other parties to support her bill — a mammoth task, given the current makeup of Parliament.
With just seven seats in the House of Commons following their dismal spring election results, the vastly outnumbered New Democrats would need sweeping cross-party support to advance the bill.
Kwan argues that her legislation is needed to strengthen arms oversight and keep Canadian-made military hardware out of the hands of governments which would use those weapons against civilian populations.
Her private member's bill C-233, which she's calling the "No More Loopholes Act," would add new oversight requirements to exports of parts and components, end permit-free access to the United States for military goods and require companies to obtain end-use certificates from foreign governments.
Statement from NDP Housing Critic Jenny Kwan on Federal Housing Advocate's Report
After a recent damning report from the Parliamentary Budget Office critiquing the policy design of Build Canada Homes, the Federal Housing Advocate’s report today exposes major additional gaps in the Federal government’s housing policies, revealing that the government has allowed homelessness to escalate while relying on inadequate, short-term fixes. Across Waterloo, London, Hamilton, and Toronto, the Advocate heard consistently that people living in encampments face unsafe shelters, inaccessible housing, and constant threats of eviction. These conditions are the predictable outcome of inadequate policy development, underfunding, and enforcement-first approaches that criminalize survival.
The report’s recommendations make clear what needs to be done. Federal investments must be expanded and sustained with a human rights-based approach, including meaningful engagement with encampment residents, municipalities, and Indigenous organizations, and evaluation of programs like the UHEI to ensure lessons inform future strategies. Adequate pathways out of encampments require scaling up deeply affordable and supportive housing, integrating health care, and protecting people from forced evictions that exacerbate trauma and risk, especially during extreme weather.
The report also emphasizes the urgent need for culturally specific and trauma-informed Indigenous supports, gender-responsive housing, and protections for refugee claimants. Community organizations must be empowered and resourced rather than monitored and penalized. All federal housing initiatives, from Build Canada Homes to the National Housing Strategy, must embed a human rights framework, set clear outcomes, and provide sustainable funding to ensure real change along the continuum of housing, including setting clear targets of 40 percent of housing set to 30% of income.
Canadians are witnessing the consequences: lives put at risk, and systemic inequalities entrenched. The Prime Minister and Housing Minister cannot continue to defer responsibility. They must act immediately to align federal policy with human rights, expand investments, end criminalization, and commit to long-term, trauma-informed solutions that actually meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness. I call on the Prime Minister and Housing Minister to follow through immediately on the recommendations from these two reports.
A leaked Liberal caucus briefing document obtained by The Maple warned that regulating the flow of Canadian-made military goods to the United States might upset the Americans, resulting in economic blows to Canada and damaging geopolitical alliances.
The briefing was prepared in response to Bill C-233, a private members’ bill sponsored by NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who also obtained a copy of the leaked document ahead of a recent debate in the House of Commons.
Bill C-233, dubbed the “No More Loopholes Act,” proposes amending federal export law to prevent certain countries from being exempt from permitting requirements, and introducing additional regulations and reporting measures for Canadian military exports.
Most military exports to the United States currently do not require permits, and researchers have warned that this serves as a backdoor by which Canadian-made military goods are ending up in Israel, which is committing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
A recent report, co-authored by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Arms Embargo Now and World Beyond War, identified hundreds of shipments of Canadian-made F-35 fighter jet components, other aircraft parts, and explosives and flammable materials to U.S. facilities that supply the Israeli military.
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.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne defended "historical" housing spending in Budget 2025 on his way out of the cabinet meeting Tuesday. He told reporters he respects the PBO's work but added that "sometimes you need a bit of nuance."
Champagne said that future budgets will update spending priorities and no one should "prejudge" any of those commitments.
“You don’t take decisions for ‘29 in ‘25," he said.
“We’re going to do the work now and we’ll take the decisions that are going to be needed as we go forward."
NDP housing critic Jenny Kwan accused the government of inflating homebuilding expectations through its budget last month.
"The commitment on this new generational investment that the government's talking about, it is barely a drop in the bucket to address the housing crisis," Kwan said before question period.
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.