Premier David Eby is lashing out against a Senate committee, accusing senators of gutting key reforms to Canada’s immigration laws.
Eby had hoped reforms under Bill C-12 would stop extortion suspects from claiming refugee status to delay deportation.
Eby accused the Senate committee on social affairs of “actually proposing to remove the very provisions that would protect the people South of the Fraser from this wildly frustrating attack on the integrity of our immigration system.”
“We look to the Senate for sober second thought. I have to question whether there’s thought and whether there’s sobriety in the Senate chamber.”
The Canada Border Services Agency told CBC News that out of 281 people it is investigating linked to extortion, 104 have filed a refugee claim. It’s unclear how many of those cases are still in progress and how many have been accepted or rejected. So far 10 people have been deported. Those figures were as of January 30.
The section of the bill Eby is focusing on is a new provision that, if passed, would bar people who first came to Canada more than a year prior to filing refugee claims. That, for example, would prevent international students who have been in Canada more than a year from claiming refugee status.
Immigration Minister Lena Diab told the committee earlier this month that 37 per cent of asylum claims filed between June 3 and Oct. 31, 2025, would be disallowed under this ineligibility measure — about 19,000 of 50,000 applications.
The bill would also speed up the determinations around inadmissibility and deportation of individuals with established links to organized crime.
B.C. premier says Surrey residents need more information on extortion-related violence
The Ministry of Public Safety said in a press release that law enforcement agencies in B.C. have seen cases “where individuals connected to extortion-related activities may possess expired visas, have pending refugee claims, or non-compliant student visas, while actively participating in or linked to violent offences.”
B.C. Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger has sent a letter to her federal counterpart Gary Anandasangaree and to the Senate committee on national security, defence and veterans affairs — which is overseeing the bill — urging swift action on the legislation.
“The passage of Bill C-12 would make it harder for criminals who are foreign nationals to seek refugee status to avoid being removed from Canada,” Krieger said in a statement. “These reforms are needed to disrupt organized crime networks more effectively and keep British Columbians safe.”
The Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International Canada and other rights groups testified before the Senate social affairs committee, voicing concerns about sections of the bill they say would undermine the country’s refugee protection system.
Gauri Sreenivasan, co-executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, said the Senate committee is acting based on evidence put forward from some of the country’s top civil liberties and refugee experts.
“It’s very concerning to hear Premier Eby really kind of impugn the rigor with which the Senate committee tasked with studying those refugee provisions undertook their recommendations,” she said.
Sreenivasan said given Eby’s background as the former head of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, “Frankly, given his own background, he knows better than to sow fear and alarm regarding newcomers and refugees. It’s a really kind of a toxic approach that distracts from what are the core concerns of Canadian people.”
Jinny Sims, a former NDP MLA and MP who now works at Surrey radio station Swift 1200 AM which was targeted with gun fire, says extortion victims cannot afford to wait any longer.
“Until this bill gets passed there is very little that government can do to stop people from filing refugee claims.”
