Montrealers protest against border security Bill C-2
Canadian border services officers walk past customs booths at the Highway 55 port of entry in Stanstead, Quebec, on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)
Protesters gathered in Montreal on Sunday to voice their opposition to federal Bill C-2, which aims to strengthen border security.
The bill includes several immigration measures that have raised concerns among organizations.
About 80 people gathered in front of the offices of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada downtown for the protest organized by Solidarity Across Borders.
They chanted: 'Status for all,' and 'Solidarity with refugees.'
'Bill C-2 was a real shock to us. Just a few years ago, the Liberal Party promised a mass regularization program. Instead, we are now faced with a bill that will greatly affect the situation of undocumented people in Canada and those with precarious status, and which will also increase the number of undocumented people in Canada,' said Mary Foster, a Solidarity Across Borders activist at the protest.
For Foster, the bill that claims to ensure border security will not guarantee the safety of communities.
'It will be even more difficult to cross the border in a safe and healthy manner. We will have more people dying at the borders. We know that people will continue to cross the borders,' she said.
The activist also deplores the ideas behind the bill, which she says portrays refugees and immigrants as a threat to Canadians.
'We are all human beings, we are all equal, we are all supposed to have the right to freedom of movement, liberty and security,' said Foster.
Instead of Bill C-2, Solidarity Across Borders is calling for a mass program to regularize the status of immigrants. The organization is also asking that immigrant workers be granted permanent residence as soon as they are accepted into Canada, Foster said.
Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree tabled the bill, which includes a section dedicated to immigration, last Tuesday.
Bill C-2 includes provisions that would give the government the power, 'if it considers it to be in the public interest,' to 'cancel or amend permanent or temporary resident visas, work permits, study permits, temporary resident permits, electronic travel authorizations, permanent resident cards or any other immigration document.'
If the bill is passed, asylum claims filed more than one year after a potential refugee has entered Canada will be deemed inadmissible for referral to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, which is normally responsible for assessing such claims.
The same would apply to asylum claims made 14 days after a person arrived irregularly in Canada by land.
This bill comes at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressuring Ottawa for months to take action to stem the flow of immigrants to the south.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French June 8, 2025.
Coralie Laplante, The Canadian Press
- With information from Émilie Bergeron in Ottawa
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