Canada immigration minister announces reintroduction of anti-human smuggling law

The anti-human smuggling Canada immigration law was shelved earlier this year when an election was called on May 2. The resulting landslide victory by the Conservatives meant they won the right to form a majority government, and no longer needed the support of the opposition (the Liberals) to pass new laws.

The formation of the law came as a reaction to a number of high profile incidents of human smuggling bringing illegal immigrants to the shores of Canada, with one of the most famous being the arrival in Canadian waters of approx. 500 Sri Lankan refugees on a cargo ship.

The intention of the law is to make it easier for Canada to deport fraudulent refugees, reducing the time it takes from several years to just a few months.

Speaking on how serious the issue is, Minister Kenney asserted that these people are charged "tens of thousands of dollars" by "criminal networks" to be illegally brought to Canada and approx. 60% of the asylum seekers who come to Canada are found “not to be legitimately in need of our protection”.

“We committed in our platform to bring forward a bill to crack down on human smuggling,” commented Minister Kenney. “We know those operations are still going on in East Asia. So this legislation will come forward fairly early to try to deter them.”

The Canadian Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people make their Canada Visa application to the Canadian Embassy.