Latest news with #JennyKwan
CBC
2 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Are there 'snooping provisions' in Carney's massive border bill?
Social Sharing Conservatives and New Democrats don't agree on much, but it appears both have issues with provisions tucked into Bill C-2, the Carney government's Strong Borders Act. The 140-page bill would modify many existing laws, from the Criminal Code to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Canada Post Corporation Act and the Oceans Act. Much of it is about the border and the movement of people and goods, licit and illicit, across that border, as its full name suggests: An Act respecting certain measures relating to the security of the border between Canada and the United States and respecting other related security measures. But some MPs are having difficulty seeing how everything in the bill is at all "related" to the border. WATCH | Privacy concerns over Liberal border bill: Strong Borders Act raises concern about police access to personal data 1 day ago Duration 2:28 Civil liberties groups are concerned that the federal government's proposed Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act, will give law enforcement agencies sweeping new powers, like making it easier for police to search your internet activity and data without your knowledge or a warrant. "I think the title of the act is for show for the Trump administration," said New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan. "A lot of the components in the bill target Canada's own processes that have nothing to do with the U.S." Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner said C-2 includes "snooping provisions" that are "a massive poison pill." A long fight over 'lawful access' Perhaps the most controversial parts of the bill relate to police powers and "lawful access," the ability for police to demand subscriber information from internet providers and other online companies. Police have been seeking such powers for two decades in Canada, and there have been several attempts to pass legislation. The last determined effort to expand police powers over the internet was made by Stephen Harper's government in 2014, when it was packaged as the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act. It fell apart after Public Safety Minister Vic Toews challenged critics to either "stand with us or stand with the child pornographers." The Carney government also turned to the spectre of child pornography to make the case for their bill. And indeed, those who work in child protection have long advocated for a version of lawful access that would compel internet providers to co-operate with law enforcement. Wait times for warrants "There are pieces of information that are only in the possession of [internet] companies," said Monique St. Germain, a lawyer with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. She said it can take months to obtain authorizations to link a computer's IP address to a suspect, and sometimes that means important evidence is lost. WATCH | Critics worry about alignment with U.S.: Critics say new border legislation aligns Canada's immigration system with the U.S. 7 days ago Duration 2:43 And Thomas Carrique of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police says communications and encryption technology used by criminals have raced ahead of existing legislation. "We are certainly not advocating to have unfettered access," he said. "[C-2] lays out in law what the police would have access to based on reasonable suspicion. And in a modern technical society, this is bare-minimum information." Reasonable expectations of privacy But the Supreme Court of Canada ruled its landmark 2014 decision R v. Spencer that the information police hope to gain through the border bill is within the bounds of a person's reasonable expectation of privacy. "I frankly thought that the prospect of government going back to legislation without a warrant, without court oversight, was simply gone," said Michael Geist, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He says it now feels like there's an effort to "sneak" old provisions from failed legislation into this bill — "about which there's very little to do with lawful access." He expects Canadians will "feel that they've been duped" as they learn that a bill "designed to deal with the border and border safety" has elements that "have nothing to do with the border." Content off limits The data at issue would not include the actual content of messages exchanged over the internet. In order to listen to conversations or read emails, police would still need a warrant. Rather it is biographical information about the sender that is at issue, and there is a debate about how significant the privacy interest in that is. "I think what's being asked is relatively limited, but I acknowledge that's not a universally shared view," said Richard Fadden, former director of Canada's intelligence agency, CSIS. "If you go back 20 or 30 years you had telephone books which allowed the police to do more or less the same." But Geist said police could obtain a lot more through C-2 than they ever could through an old phone book. He said law enforcement could ask an internet company what kind of things a customer has been doing online, when they were doing them and where. Geist says providers would also have to disclose what communications services the subscriber users, such as a Gmail account. WATCH | Public safety minister says C-2 is in line with Charter: Public safety minister says border bill is in line with Charter 9 days ago Duration 0:54 Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said Bill C-2, known as the Strong Borders Act, strikes the right balance between expanding the powers of border agents and police officers, while also protecting the individual rights of Canadians. Shakir Rahim, a lawyer with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said such information provides "a trove of background about our lives" and that his group has "serious concerns that this bill is not compliant with the Charter." Rahim says the requirement to get a warrant offers "some level of protection" that such access is being sought in a targeted way. "But this legislation changes that. It takes away that protection," he said. That problem is compounded, says Geist, by the very low bar set to allow police to demand such information — "any violation of any act of Parliament" — giving the example of camping without a permit. Opposition parties concerned about snooping Rempel Garner raised those concerns in the House of Commons. "Whether or not I use an online service, where I use an online service, if I depart from an online service, if I start an online service, how long I use an online service, everything that C-2 says it would do — that is my personal information," she said. "That is none of the government's business, certainly not without a warrant. There has to be a line drawn here." WATCH | Conservatives express privacy concerns: Conservatives express privacy concerns over border bill 7 days ago Duration 1:57 Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, who has a background in asylum and human rights law, said he would never advance a bill that threatens civil liberties. "It needed to be in line with the values of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms," he said the day the bill was tabled. "I fundamentally believe that we can strike a balance that, while expanding powers in certain instances, does have the safeguards and the protections in place like protecting individual freedoms or rights." The NDP's Kwan isn't convinced. "I know the minister says this and believes it," she said. "But in reality, if you look at the bill, the minister is creating a situation where your personal info is being disclosed without your consent." A need for 'careful review' Even some who broadly support the lawful access provisions in C-2 wish they had been presented in a separate bill. Fadden says CSIS is too busy to waste time on fishing expeditions, and he would expect the agency to set its own protocols that agents would have to comply with before contacting internet providers. He doesn't dismiss the risk of abuse and overreach, but argues that those risks also exist under the present system of warrants. Still, he wishes the changes hadn't been buried in an omnibus bill ostensibly about the border. "I understand the desire to do it that way, but I don't think it allows for people to understand what's being proposed," Fadden said. "I'm not sure when parliamentary committees look at the bill in the aggregate, particularly given its focus on borders, that this will get the attention that it deserves … people from the civil liberties side are raising concerns that merit discussion."
CTV News
05-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Critic calls out border bill's proposed new cabinet powers on immigration
NDP MP Jenny Kwan delivers remarks in the Foyer of the House of Commons in Ottawa on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby OTTAWA — An NDP critic says a provision in the federal government's border security bill that would give cabinet the power to cancel immigration documents looks like an attempt to 'mimic' measures deployed by the Trump administration in the U.S. 'It seems to me … this piece of legislation is Canada's attempt to mimic some of those measures that the United States is adopting. I actually never thought that this day would come where Canada would go down that road,' B.C. NDP MP Jenny Kwan told The Canadian Press. 'However, it is here, and meanwhile the government is saying, 'Don't worry, trust us.'' Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said that the immigration minister would only be able to exercise the power to cancel, suspend or alter immigration documents in an 'emergency' and after being granted the authority through an order-in-council. 'The tools are in place to ensure the minister of immigration has additional tools to ensure that in a modern era, for example, whether it's a pandemic or issues around cybersecurity, she will have the tools to make those decisions,' Anandasangaree said during debate on the bill Thursday. Bloc Québécois MP Claude DeBellefeuille said that her party plans to support the bill at second reading so it can be studied by the public safety committee. Speaking in French, she said the bill needs to be examined closely because it looks to give new powers to government ministers, law enforcement and even Canada Post. Immigration Minister Lena Diab said Wednesday the legislation is designed to address 'one-off' situations like a pandemic or some other 'exceptional circumstance.' 'I think people, Canadians should feel safe that we are putting in all these safeguards, but again, as I said, it's all part of protecting our country and protecting our system that we value and protecting people that come here because we want to ensure that they are successful as well,' Diab said. Bill C-2 also proposes giving the immigration minister the power to pause the acceptance of new immigration applications and cancel or pause processing of the current inventory of applications in the event of an emergency. Julia Sande, a human rights lawyer with Amnesty International Canada, said immigration applicants could lose a lot of money because the legislation doesn't oblige the government to refund affected people. 'People give up their entire lives, in some cases, their life savings or their family's life savings. People go into debt just to be able to come here,' she said. 'And so to have the government be able to pull the rug out from under wide groups of people is concerning.' Kwan said the proposed new powers are problematic because cabinet decisions are made in secret and there's no firm definition of an 'emergency' in the legislation. 'I don't accept that the Liberals say, 'Don't worry, we're the good guys, so trust us.' I'm sorry, that is just not acceptable,' she said, adding there's no way to know what a future government might do with this power. The text of the legislation says that if the minister 'is of the opinion that it is in the public interest to do so,' they may trigger the power to cancel, suspend or alter immigration documents through a cabinet order. 'They're saying in an emergency, but that's not what's written. They said if they're in the opinion that it's in the public interest … that could really be anything,' Sande said. 'In the fall, we saw migrants and refugees being scapegoated for the housing crisis. And so, you know, what's in the public interest?' Last year, then-immigration minister Marc Miller said plans to reduce the number of permanent and temporary visas issued would help stabilize the housing market. U.S. President Donald Trump has used national security as justification for a host of immigration measures that involve detaining and deporting people, including university students who have condemned the war in Gaza. Sande said the proposed bill 'attacks' the right to seek asylum by making it harder for migrants to make a claim if they are entering Canada from the U.S., or have been in the country for more than a year. 'They're talking about fentanyl, they're talking about guns and then all of a sudden they're attacking the right to asylum,' Sande said. 'They are completely different things and it's difficult for civil society, for experts to respond when there's so many things going on.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2025. David Baxter, The Canadian Press
CBC
30-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Longtime NDP MP Jenny Kwan reflects on bruising election night for her party
Vancouver East NDP MP Jenny Kwan was among a limited number of incumbent New Democrats who hung onto their seats in the federal election, as the party was decimated, losing its leader. The longtime New Democrat said that she intends to help build a political movement where "no one gets left behind," but did not say whether she would stand for the party's leadership.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Liberal Paul Chiang ‘played right into' Chinese government intimidation: Kwan
NDP candidate Jenny Kwan reacted on Sunday after Liberal incumbent Paul Chiang apologized for comments he made suggesting people in his Toronto-area riding hand over his Conservative rival Joe Tay to the Chinese consulate and collect a bounty. Kwan said Chiang 'played right into' the intimidation tactics of the Chinese government.
