November 10, 2010

St. Thomas, Ontario — The Harper Government is delivering on its commitment to crack down on human smugglers who seek to abuse Canada’s immigration system, Member of Parliament Preston said today.  Speaking from St. Thomas,  MP Preston outlined details of the Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act. The proposed legislation would strengthen Canada’s ability to prosecute human smugglers, deter those that seek to jump the queue, prevent human smuggling operations before they leave for Canada and maintain the integrity and fairness of our immigration system. 

“The legislation will send a clear message: Canada opens its doors to those who work hard and play by the rules while cracking down on those who seek to take advantage of our generosity and abuse our fair and welcoming immigration system,”  said MP Preston. “This action will help to prevent the abuse of Canada’s immigration system by human smugglers, while allowing us to continue offering protection to the world’s most vulnerable.”
The Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada’s Immigration System Act will ensure law enforcement have the tools they need to crack down on human smugglers.  The new measures include:

• Making it easier to prosecute human smugglers;
• Imposing mandatory prison sentences on convicted human smugglers; and
• Holding ship owners and operators to account for use of their ships in human smuggling operations.

The Act will also help to ensure the safety and security of Canadian communities by:

• Ensuring mandatory detention of illegal migrants. This will allow us to conduct criminal, identity, and security checks, and will prevent them from “going underground” to escape removal from Canada.

We also need to make our country seem less attractive to human smuggling operations. To that end, the legislation includes the following deterrents:

• Preventing those who come to Canada as part of a human smuggling event from applying for permanent resident status for a period of five years, should they successfully obtain protected person status;
• Preventing them from sponsoring family members for five years;
• Ensuring they can be removed from Canada if conditions improve in their country of origin;
• Limiting the health and benefits package they receive, which is currently more generous than what the government provides Canadian citizens; and
• Making it easier to revoke the protected person status of refugee fraudsters who go on holidays or travel back to the country they claim is persecuting them.

“Unfortunately, these tough measures have come under attack by the ‘immigration industry’, including refugee lawyers and immigration consultants. The Ignatieff’s Liberals, the New Democratic Party, and the Bloc Québécois are all criticising our legislation as being too tough on those who pay human smugglers,” said MP Preston. “Canadians expect their government to take action to prevent dozens of other human smuggling ships from reaching our shores every year. The Opposition should stop playing partisan games and pass this legislation so we can prevent human smuggling operations from treating Canada as their doormat.”

The Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada’s Immigration System Act and backgrounders can be consulted at www.publicsafety.gc.ca.