May 10, 2012
Amendments to the ‘Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act’
Citizenship and Immigration Canada has announced that the Government is introducing an amendment to clarify Bill C-31 – Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act.It has been proposed that the amendment will clarify that in situations where the IRB determines that an individual’s protected person status has ceased to exist due to changes in country conditions, the individual will not automatically lose permanent resident status
In addition, under the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, individuals who receive a final negative decision from the IRB are barred from applying for a pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) for 12 months due to the duplicative nature of the PRRA. The Government is proposing to amend this provision so that the 12-month bar will apply as soon as Bill C-31 receives Royal Assent in order to remove the delay on the application of this provision. Once the Bill receives Royal Assent, the 12 month bar will be applied to all negative decisions from the 12 months preceding Assent. The amendment will increase the temporal bar from 12 to 36 months for individuals of designated countries who:
- Received a previous negative decision from IRB
- Abandoned or withdrew their refugee claim, or
- Received a negative PRRA decision within 12 months prior to Royal consent
Initially, the Government proposed mandatory detention without review for up to 12 months, for those who arrive as part of a designated irregular arrival. Opposition members asked for amendments to this detention review schedule, and as a result the Government is proposing a compromise with opposition members, for earlier detention reviews. The Government proposed that detained individuals have a review within 14 days and subsequent reviews every 180 days.
For additional safeguard, the Government has also proposed an amendment to allow the Minister of Public Safety to release a detained individual when the grounds for detention no longer exist.
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