Ottawa, ON – Today, the Honourable Michelle Rempel Garner, Conservative Shadow Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, sent the following letter to the Minister of Justice and the Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship calling for cooperation on common-sense measures to protect Canadians:
Dear Ministers Diab and Fraser,
I am writing to you in the spirit of collaboration and making Parliament work for all Canadians.
I will start by drawing your attention to comments made yesterday by British Columbia Premier David Eby. The Premier expressed deep frustration with Canada’s immigration laws as they pertain to non-citizens being convicted of, or arrested for having been alleged to have committed, serious crimes like extortion and subsequently making asylum claims. He called for our laws to be changed.
I, and millions of other Canadians, agree. Even though the Premier is a New Democrat and I am a Conservative, there are some policy areas that bridge the political divide. This is one of them.
That’s why on November 28, 2025, I proposed an amendment to Bill C-12, which would have updated the Immigration Refugee Protection Act to bar asylum claims from being made by those who had been convicted of serious crimes in Canada. This was a common-sense change that would have prevented abuse of Canada’s asylum system and deterred non-citizens from avoiding deportation after committing serious crimes.
This amendment was rejected by Liberals.
You can watch the debate and vote on this proposal here, where I make virtually the same arguments Premier Eby made in his press conference yesterday. Had my amendment carried, the Premier and Canadians would have gotten a signal that your government was ready to modernize Canadian immigration law to prevent this “ludicrous” (his word) abuse of our asylum system. But in spite of Liberals rejecting this proposal, our Conservative caucus is ready to work with you to expedite legislation which would make this change, should you choose to table it.
However, Premier Eby, in his comments, also suggested that we should go further, and I agree.
The Premier suggested that we not only seek to bar non-citizens convicted of serious crimes from making refugee claims, but also non-citizens who have active judicial proceedings in Canada for serious crimes. This would send a message to non-citizens who now, accurately, believe that they can commit serious crimes and avoid deportation by abusing Canada’s asylum system.
Additionally, in line with the spirit of Premier Eby’s comments, the practice of judges giving leniency to non-citizens convicted of serious crimes to avoid deportation must end. There have been endless and patently egregious cases of non-citizens convicted of serious crimes like sexual assault who have benefited from this practice at the expense of victims and Canada’s immigration consensus. This is why I introduced Bill C-220, which would add one line to the Criminal Code to end once and for all a practice which is not in alignment with the spirit of long-established Canadian law.
This bill will be up for a vote in a few short weeks. I encourage you to advise your caucus to support it. In order to expedite this much-needed change, Conservative members of the Justice committee attempted to amend Bill C-14 yesterday to include this one-line change, but it was voted down by Liberal members.
To reemphasize, Conservatives are more than happy to work with you to expedite this bill.
I am happy to meet with your officials to find ways to expedite these measures as quickly as possible. I look forward to your response and will ensure that Premier Eby receives a copy of it.