What is Bill C-2?

On June 3, 2025, the Canadian government introduced Bill C-2. Bill C-2, titled the “Strong Borders Act,” seeks to introduce significant changes which, if passed, will impact people in all status groups in Canada, particularly those in the most vulnerable positions.

As such, over three hundred rights organizations with different priorities (broadly focused on refugee rights, civil liberties, gender justice, and migrant advocacy) have come together to call for the full withdrawal of the Bill. Bill C-2 is still proceeding through Parliament and is currently not a law.

The Proposed Changes in Bill C-2:

Impacts on Migrants’ Immigration Status: Bill C-2 expands the government’s ability to cancel, suspend, or change immigration documents if the government decides it is in the public interest. This means that the government can change permanent or temporary resident visas, work, or study permits, without a prior rigorous or transparent review process. This can lead to unfair treatment and discrimination against groups of people.

Intersection of Immigration and Privacy Rights: Bill C-2 gives government agencies new abilities to require service providers to share certain information on clients. Undermining the trust between front-line service providers and individuals in vulnerable circumstances, such as those with precarious immigration status, poses serious risks. It can compromise the sense of safety and assurance of confidentiality these individuals need to seek out information about their rights and access essential support services.

Further, the proposed changes will weaken privacy rights, as personal data of immigrants may be shared to other areas of the immigration department, to other government agencies, and to foreign entities. Privacy rights advocates point out that this bill reduces transparency on how data is used and leaves immigrants exposed to data breaches.

Refugee Claim Eligibility Changes: When someone submits a refugee claim, their case is first assessed for eligibility before it is sent to the Immigration and Refugee Board. Bill C-2 proposes two new ineligibility provisions for new refugee claimants.

Currently, if someone crossed into Canada from the United States irregularly, they are eligible to make a refugee claim through the inland process after 14 days. Under Bill C-2, they would no longer be eligible.
Under Bill C-2, if someone arrived in Canada after June 24, 2020, and did not make a refugee claim within one year, they would be permanently barred from making a claim, even if they left and came back later.

If passed, these changes would apply retroactively to the date the bill was introduced – June 3, 2025.

This means, if someone has been in Canada for more than a year since June 24, 2020, and not made a claim, but wanted to make one after this bill was introduced (after June 3, 2025), they would no longer be eligible.

Why These New Ineligibility Requirements Matter:

These proposed changes to refugee eligibility are problematic because, among other reasons:

They create a time restriction on refugee
- The proposed eligibility requirement is not based on the strengths of the protection needs of that individual.
They are not responsive to the ways that someone’s situation in their country of origin may change.
- For example, after being in Canada for more than a year, a home country’s conditions changed, so nationals are unable to return, but are no longer able to make a claim.
They are not responsive to the ways a foreign national’s situation in Canada has changed.
- For example, an international student fearing a return to their home country may have delayed a refugee claim, expecting to qualify for permanent residence through another pathway. But immigration programs change without warning, and a former student could lose access to both permanent residence and refugee protection—despite facing real danger if forced to

Individuals who may be found to be ineligible through these proposed changes will still be able to apply for a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (“PRRA”). However, this process does not have the same robust inquiry, safeguards, and procedural fairness requirements as the standard Canadian refugee claim process.

The Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (“PRRA”) Process

The PRRA process is problematic because the majority of PRRAs are paper-based and do not include the same right to an oral hearing. They are not decided by those with specialized knowledge, as with the Immigration and Refugee Board (“IRB”), and they do not offer the same right to appeal or the right to stay in Canada while a refusal is challenged. This places individuals who are vulnerable in their country of origin in riskier positions.

Further, by shifting the risk analysis from the Immigration and Refugee Board to IRCC, the proposed changes do not address the concerns they are proposed to fix, such as reducing backlogs in refugee processing. This proposed change merely shifts the process to another department.

What Still Needs to Happen For this Bill to Pass?

The bill is not yet enacted, and so currently, it has no force. Further, Parliament has been on summer break since late June and will return on September 15, 2025.

When Parliament returns, the bill still needs to proceed through both the House of Commons and the Senate and through the scrutiny of the review committee. In the process of a bill becoming a law, a smaller group of members will examine the bill more closely and often invite experts in the field to provide insight into the impacts of the bill. This stage often allows advocates to present their concerns about the bill to the committee.

What Can You Do?

There are many ways that you can get involved in bringing attention to the concerns with this bill and call for full withdrawal.

Become informed about Bill C-2: Rights organizations across the country have been developing resources to inform individuals of the specific impacts this bill will have. The coalition of organizations on Bill C-2 has created a resource page that includes links to briefs on key issues, events, and action items. This can be found here.

Discuss Bill C-2: Raise concerns with your local politicians, Members of Parliament, friends, families, and communities, regardless of your status in Canada. This phone call tool provides phone numbers and talking points for making calls easier.

Attend events: On September 20, 2025, coalitions of rights organizations have scheduled rallies across Canada to demand justice for the trend towards “anti-migrant, anti-Indigenous, and fossil fuel-driven policies.” More information here.

This bill has not entered into force, and there are collective efforts to call for its full withdrawal.

If you have questions: there are many organizations serving specific communities or with particular rights advocacy mandates that you can reach out to if you have questions.

This post is intended to highlight some of the recent proposed changes that may affect immigrants and migrants in Canada. It is not meant to be exhaustive nor is it is legal advice. As usual, many of these proposed changes are nuanced and complex. Therefore, please reach out to an immigration lawyer for guidance if you have any case-specific questions.