Introduction
Canada must be committed to upholding human rights and restoring justice in the immigration system.
Over the past year, the federal government has rolled out a series of policy changes that tighten and securitize every major immigration stream—decisions which deepen long-standing inequities in the system. Racialized migrants and refugees, women, 2SLGBTQI+ people and disabled persons, many of whom rely on community sponsorships, open work permits or low-wage streams, now face longer family separations, greater precarity and heightened surveillance.
Over the last two decades, Canada moved decisively towards “two-step” immigration. It does so by selecting permanent immigration candidates primarily from among temporary study and work permit holders.1Rupa Banerjee, Naomi Alboim, Anna Triandafyllidou, and Georgiana Mathurin, “Canada’s Long-Standing Openness to Immigration Comes Under Pressure”, Migration Policy Institute, June 24, 2025, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/canada-immigration-policy-inflection-point. The cumulative effect is an immigration and refugee architecture that claims to celebrate diversity while operationalising exclusion, reinforcing historic patterns of racism and structural disadvantage—even as Canada brands itself an immigration success story.
By entrenching precarity and racialized gatekeeping, Canada undermines its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The federal government must re-align its migration framework with human rights principles, equity, and global justice.
Overview
Federal policymakers introduced extensive changes to immigration rules over the past 12 months. In September 2024, Ottawa announced a two-year cap that will cut new study-permit approvals to 437,000 for 2025 and curtail spousal work-permit eligibility, part of a wider plan to drive the share of temporary residents from seven per cent down to five per cent of Canada’s population.2Anna Mehler Paperny, “Canada Further Tightens Rules on Temporary Workers, Students,” Reuters, September 18, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-further-tightens-rules-temporary-workers-students-2024-09-18/. The October 2024 Immigration Levels Plan lowered permanent-resident targets by almost 20 per cent (to 395,000 in 2025) and formalised ceilings on temporary residents3Anna Mehler Paperny, “Canada to Cut Immigration Numbers, Government Source Says,” Reuters, October 23, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-cut-immigration-numbers-2024-10-23/., while January 2025 allocations imposed a further 10 per cent drop in study permits.4Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2025 Provincial and Territorial Allocations Under the International Student Cap, January 24, 2025, https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/2025-provincial-territorial-allocations-under-international-student-cap.html. Other measures restricted open work permits for spouses and dependants of most international students and low-wage workers (Jan 2025).5Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, “Changes to Open Work Permits for Family Members of Temporary Residents,” January 14, 2025, https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/changes-open-work-permits-family-members-temporary-residents.html. These shifts have left thousands of students and workers scrambling for status,6Shiva S. Mohan, “Broken promises are why some international students turn to seeking asylum”, Toronto Metropolitan University, January 21, 2025, https://www.torontomu.ca/cerc-migration/news/2025/01/conversation-international-student-asylum/ as asylum claims by international students alone jumped 22 per cent in the first quarter of 2025 as other pathways closed.7“Surge in Asylum Reveals Struggles of International Students Amid Canada’s Immigration Crackdown,” The Economic Times, May 13, 2025, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/canada/surge-in-asylum-reveals-struggles-of-international-students-amid-canadas-immigration-crackdown/articleshow/121141102.cms.
Policymakers simultaneously narrowed refugee streams, implementing a temporary pause on private “Groups of Five” sponsorships (in which five Canadians together can “sponsor” a displaced person) from November 2024 to December 2025.8Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Temporary Pause on Intake of Refugee Sponsorship Applications from Groups of Five and Community Sponsors, November 29, 2024, https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/temporary-pause-intake-refugee-sponsorship-applications-groups-five-community-sponsors.html. Expired Refugee Protection Claimant Documents were declared invalid after April 2025, adding paperwork hurdles for people already waiting years for hearings.9Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, “Expired Refugee Protection Claimant Documents Will No Longer Be Valid as of April 1, 2025,” August 29, 2024, https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/expired-refugee-protection-claimant-documents-no-longer-valid-from-april-1-2025.html. Ottawa simultaneously launched a multilingual digital campaign warning potential claimants about Canada’s “difficult” asylum process,10Anna Mehler Paperny, “Canada Pulls Refugee Welcome Mat, Launches Ads Warning Asylum Claims Hard,” Reuters, December 2, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-pulls-refugee-welcome-mat-launches-ads-warning-asylum-claims-hard-2024-12-02/. and granted officers new powers to cancel visas, study permits and work permits on the spot (Feb 2025).11Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, New Rules to Strengthen Temporary Resident Document Cancellations, and Border Security and Integrity, February 12, 2025, https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/new-rules-strengthen-temporary-resident-document-cancellations-border-security-integrity.html.
Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act introduced on 3 June 2025, would dramatically expand executive control over immigration. It proposes to grant cabinet the authority to pause, terminate or cancel entire classes of applications (as opposed to individual cases) or existing immigration documents “in the public interest,” and introduces stringent new requirements on the timing limits for making certain refugee claims. The bill also bolsters cross-border intelligence-sharing, lets Canada Post and CBSA open mail, and gives the Coast Guard police-style enforcement powers.
Canada also continues to be a signatory to the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), which bars asylum seekers from making refugee claims if they have already set foot in a designated safe country—a designation it applies the U.S., despite that country having closed nearly all refugee intake streams. Despite the U.S. government’s recent predilection to send migrants to overseas concentration camps in places like El Salvador, Djibouti, and Guantanamo Bay, the Canadian government continues to designate the U.S. as a “safe” country for refugees—effectively preventing large numbers of asylum seekers from making legitimate claims in Canada.
Actions
Refugee protection and asylum
The AFB will rescind the Canada–U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA). The agreement undermines equitable refugee protection; the U.S. is not a safe country for all asylum seekers.
The AFB will withdraw Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act.
The AFB will end immigration detention. In the interim, the AFB will implement alternatives to detention, such as community-based supervision models managed in partnership with non-profit organizations.
Status and regularization
The AFB will launch a comprehensive regularization program for everyone with undocumented or precarious immigration status—including a one-step Permanent Residency pathway for undocumented individuals, rejected claimants, and people on precarious temporary status.
The AFB will restore permanent-resident targets and dismantle the “two-step” system. It would reverse the shift to mass temporary migration.
The AFB will reinvest in robust humanitarian, family-class, and economic immigration.
The AFB will guarantee permanent-status-on-arrival and open work permits for all workers.
The AFB will guarantee a predictable permanent residence pathway for study permit holders who were made ineligible because of immigration policy and regulation changes.
The AFB will eliminate closed/employer-specific permits for all foreign worker programs, including temporary foreign workers, to ensure labour mobility and full legal protection.
Labour rights and mobility
The AFB will establish binding national employment standards and housing regulations for migrant agricultural and low-wage workers as recommended in the guidance document, “National Housing Standards for Migrant Agricultural Workers.”12C. Susana Caxaj, Anelyse Weiler & Researchers, “National Housing Standards for Migrant Agricultural Workers”, MIHA Project, May 9 2025, https://farmworkerhousing.ca/national-housing-standards/.
The AFB will ensure full access to federal benefits and social insurance (such as Employment Insurance, the Canada Pension Plan, and so on, for all contributors regardless of immigration status, including migrant workers.
Justice and due process
The AFB will reform criminal inadmissibility and end immigration consequences of minor charges or protest-related arrests.
The AFB will introduce humanitarian discretion, a right of appeal, and a ban on deporting anyone brought to Canada as a child, regardless of immigration status.
The AFB will mandate an independent racial-equity audit of the entire immigration and refugee system.
The AFB will investigate systemic disparities in approval rates by country of origin, particularly for African, Caribbean, and Black applicants. As a result of that study, the AFB will mandate corrective measures, transparency, and binding equity reforms at IRCC and partner agencies as needed.
Health and human rights
The AFB will guarantee universal, provincial/territorial health coverage and treatment to all migrants living in Canada regardless of immigration status, including for people who are undocumented.
The AFB will guarantee culturally informed mental-health coverage and services to all migrants living in Canada regardless of immigration status, including for people who are undocumented.
The AFB will legislate national standards for Interim Federal Health Program and direct provider compensation to remove barriers to care and treatment for refugees and refugee claimants.
The AFB will protect and invest in legal aid, settlement agencies, and migrant worker support centres.
System reform and international commitments
The AFB will eliminate IRCC application backlogs and meet timely processing standards.
The AFB will create a new oversight body for Canada Border Services as per Bill C-20, An Act establishing the Public Complaints and Review Commission which received royal assent in October 2024.13Canada. Parliament. House of Commons, An Act establishing the Public Complaints and Review Commission and amending certain Acts and statutory instruments, Bill C-20, 44th Parl., 1st Sess.; assented October 31, 2024, https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-20/royal-assent.
The AFB will reverse IRCC staffing cuts, modernize systems, and publish regular processing metrics with disaggregated demographic data to ensure timely access and transparency.
The AFB will ratify the UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Migrant Workers Convention (No. 97), the Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention (No. 143) and Domestic Workers Convention (No. 189).
The AFB will reaffirm Canada’s global commitment to migrant rights and align domestic policy with international human rights obligations.
Settlement services
The AFB will adopt a National Plan for Asylum with Dignity. It will model refugee reception on the holistic support provided to Ukrainians in 2022-23, including intake centres, immediate work permits, and federal housing/shelter support.
The AFB will invest in sufficient and appropriate settlement services and language training for all refugees and migrants, regardless of immigration status.
