Bills C-2 and C-12: How Canada’s border security acts endanger refugee rights
Release Date: 10/15/2025
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info_outlineIn episode four, we welcome co-executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, Karen Cocq, advocacy and media relations coordinator at The Refugee Centre in Montreal, Alina Murad and President of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Aisling Bondy.
We discuss the Carney Government’s new border security acts, Bill C-2 and its questionable make-over with the recently tabled Bill C-12, how they effectively rewrite Canada’s approach to refugee rights and protections, whether this new security regime is a response to the Trump tariff demands or an opportunity to continue Canada’s years-long tightening of the borders, and if passed, what these acts could mean for those seeking asylum and for Canada as a whole.
On Bill C-2, Cocq says:
“We're calling it this mass deportation machine … government being able to use these new powers to remove many more people, that's what's really frightening to us … that it's going to look a little bit more like what's happening in the United States.”
On the tabling of Bill C-12, Bondy says:
“When we first heard, Oh, there's a new Bill … the Conservatives won't support C-2. This is great, maybe it won't pass. And we heard there's going to be a new version. Okay, maybe they're going to make some of the refugee aspects less bad. And then we find out no, everything's the same and this is really just a way to get it through faster. And so this actually entirely is a rather unfortunate development.”
According to Murad:
“Bureaucracy is not going to deter people from seeking safety when there is a need, right? … People who come to Canada … have well-founded claims. They have well-founded fear. They have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that they do deserve safety provided by Canada. This is not going to change.”
About today’s guests:
Aisling Bondy is the current president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL), a national organization comprised of several hundred lawyers who practice in refugee law. She is the founder of Bondy Immigration Law and is a member of the Refugee Lawyers’ Association, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association, the Ontario Bar Association and the Canadian Bar Association.
Karen Cocq is co-executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC), a membership-based organization of migrants. MWAC is the secretariat of the cross-country Migrant Rights Network, the largest coalition of migrant led organizations in Canada. She has been active in migrant justice and workers' rights organizing for 20 years.
Alina Murad is the advocacy and media relations coordinator at The Refugee Centre in Montreal. She leads policy research and advocacy initiatives addressing systemic barriers faced by refugees and asylum seekers in Canada. Follow them on Instagram @therefugeecentre and @pointofentrypodcast.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Aisling Bondy, Karen Cocq, Alina Murad, / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.