A Carleton alum is shining a spotlight on what she sees as the Conservative government’s policy of ‘crimmigration.’
Wendy Chan, a law professor at Simon Fraser University, has researched the relationship between Canada’s criminal law and immigration systems. She sees it getting closer and closer.
Chan explained her theory at a lecture in the Loeb Lounge Oct. 10 for an audience of about 50.
“One of the key strategies adopted by Western states of preventing unwanted immigrants from entering is to criminalize their activities in the name of national security and state sovereignty,” she said.
There are more migrants in the world than ever before. In 2013, 232 million people will migrate, according to the United Nations.
Chan had some key criticisms of the Canadian government policies that address this influx.
Bill C-43, a law passed in February 2013, eliminated the right to deportation appeal for permanent residents who are sentenced to more than six months of prison time.
Previously, permanent residents who were sentenced to less than two years of prison time were granted the right to appeal.
“You have to stop deporting people who have lived here all their life, but have never applied for citizenship,” Chan said.
The Conservative government has argued that the law is in the best interests of Canadian security.
“Important reforms to crack down on criminals and fraudsters, like Bill C-43, respond to direct calls from Canadians, especially the vast majority of immigrants who are hard-working and law-abiding, for the government to put a stop to abuse of Canada’s generous immigration system,” Bill Brown, media relations for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, said via email.
Chan has a second demand.
“You can’t detain people in prison . . . just because they do not have documents,” she said.
The law Chan is referring to emerged after 568 Tamil asylum seekers arrived by boat off the coast of B.C. in 2010.
Two years after this event, the Conservative government passed Bill C-31, allowing irregularly-arrived asylum seekers to be detained in provincial jails until their claims are processed or the immigration minister releases them.
Jason Kenney, the immigration minister at the time, defended the bill in parliament last year.
“The use of detention in immigration matters is a perfectly ordinary tool in all immigration and refugee asylum systems in the developed world, in all liberal democracies,” he said.
With titles such as “Women, Madness, and the Law: A Feminist Reader” and “Crimes of Colour: Racialization and the Criminal Justice System in Canada”, Chan’s previous research has been equally critical of government policy.
George Rigakos, chair of Carleton’s law department, stands behind Chan’s work with pride.
“She’s one of our most accomplished graduates,” Rigakos said with a smile after Chan’s lecture.
Chan spoke as part of the Chet Mitchell Memorial Lecture Series.
