1. Immigration Policy
Analysis
Bill – C 585

3. Convention refugee Abroad class:
• If you are outside your country and cannot return back
because of well-founded fear of prosecution on base of:
• Religion, Race, Political opinion, Nationality,
Membership in a particular social group, such as women
or people with a particular sexual orientation.
• You must also be Outside Canada and want to be in
Canada.
• Referred by UNHCR or another organization or
• Sponsored by a private sponsorship group.
• Selected as government -assessed or privatively
sponsored or have funds to support yourself and your
dependents after you arrive in Canada.

4. Country of Asylum Class
• You may be in this class if you are outside of your country
and continuously and personally affected by war or
armed conflict or suffered massive violation of human
rights.
• You must be outside of Canada
• Referred by UNHCR, or other organization, or privately
sponsored or you have funds to support yourself and
your dependents in Canada, or selected as government
assessed.
• You will have to pass medical exam and security and
criminal checks.

5. You may claim as a refugee from within Canada who fear
prosecution or who would be in danger if they had to leave.
Some dangers they may face include the following:
• Torture
• Risk of their life
• Risk of cruel or unusual treatment or punishment.
Currently available help to refugees:
• Federal government provides funds to provinces and
territories to help refugees to settle in Canada such as:
• Social assistance and Interim Federal Health Program (
IFHP).

6. • Bill C- 585 was tabled by Pickering-Scarborough East MP Corneliu
Chisu as an amendment to the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements
Act.
• Currently, the federal government gives funds to the provinces to help
them pay for core social services and programs through the Canada
Social Transfer (CST).
• Bill C-585 lays out the terms of the Canada Social Transfer, including
funding for services such as post-secondary education, child care and
welfare
• The Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, which lays out the
terms of the CST, contains a condition that provinces cannot impose a
minimum period of residency to restrict eligibility for social assistance
benefits – called the National Standard.
• Bill C-585 would amend the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements
Act so that provinces could impose a residency requirement for people
without permanent status, without losing any CST funding. The Bill
would therefore erode the national standard of no minimum residency
requirement for social assistance

7. • Refugee claimants who are waiting for their claims to be
decided
• Unsuccessful refugee claimants (including those who may not
meet the legal test for refugee status but still face violence or
persecution in their home country), whether or not they are
appealing or pursuing other options
• Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) applicants
• People who have applied in Canada for permanent residence
and are waiting for processing, including successful
humanitarian and compassionate applicants and sponsored
spouses
• Temporary resident permit holders who are not victims of
human trafficking.
• The Bill would not allow provinces to impose residency
requirements on Canadian citizens, permanent residents,
victims of trafficking on a temporary resident permit, and
accepted refugees.

8. • If passed, Bill C-585 would allow provinces to impose
minimum residency requirements for eligibility for social
assistance benefits, but only for certain categories of people.
• In other words, a province could decide that people with
certain kinds of status are not eligible for social assistance
until they have lived in that province for a specified period of
time.
• In some cases, people may be eligible for a work permit, but it
can take time for a permit to be approved and issued.
• An alternate source of income is required, at least in the
interim, which social assistance frequently provides.

9. • Even with a work permit, it can be hard to find a job,
particularly for people who are suffering from trauma and
the impact of violence and persecution in their home
country. Many speak neither English nor French.
• Others are not eligible for a work permit, such as newly
arrived claimants from countries that the federal
government has designated as “safe” – regardless of the
violence or persecution they have experienced there.

10. • Suppose a woman fleeing Mexico from the threat of death
because of domestic violence she would not have the time to
pack up cash and valuables
• She would run – often with nothing except the clothes on her
back
• In the time between when that woman arrives in Canada and
until her case is heard at the Refugee Protection Division she
will receive NOTHING.
• She will have no source of income support.
• She is entirely reliant on community programs whose
resources are already stretched thin.
• She will probably end up living on the street at least until she
is determined to be a refugee.

11. • The Federal government is quietly using a motion to try
to restrict access to social assistance for refugee
claimants
• This will basically allow provinces and territories to deny
a large number of persons, particularly refugee claimants
who are not victims of human trafficking or who have not
had their refugee hearing, from receiving social
assistance when they first arrive in the province.

12. • One wonders what’s really at play here. Is Mr. Chisu
hoping to assist in stemming the tide of refugees that
enter Canada by helping to establish Canada as a
country that is not only is willing to let refugees die from
poor health, but is also willing to starve them?
• However we claim that ,we are a country that has long
had compassion for refugees on the understanding that
everyone is entitled to a safe and decent place to live.
Let’s keep it that way. (An act to, 2014)

13. • Bill C-585 violates Canada’s binding obligations under the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR) and the Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees (Refugee Convention).
• Article 9 of the ICESCR provides that States Parties, including
Canada, “recognize the right of everyone to social security,
including social insurance.” The ICESCR contains no
jurisdictional limitations, and the rights contained therein
should be available to all people, including non-nationals such
as refugee claimants.
• The right to social assistance is no exception, and refugee
claimants “should enjoy equal treatment in access to non-
contributory social security schemes, including reasonable
access to health care and family support, consistent with
international standards.” (Denying social, 2014)

14. • Bill C-585 also implicates the right to life guaranteed in
Article 6 of the ICCPR. The right to life includes both
negative and positive obligations.
• Those positive obligations involve adopting measures to
protect life, including providing access to social
assistance, which directly impacts individuals’ abilities to
access basic necessities such as shelter, food, or
healthcare.

15. • Canada has undertaken under Article 2 of the ICESCR to take steps
to progressively realize the rights in the Covenant, including the right
to social assistance. A corollary to this commitment is the obligation
to refrain from limiting the fundamental rights guaranteed in the
ICESCR.
• There is a strong presumption in international law that retrogressive
measures taken in relation to fundamental human rights are
prohibited. There is no justification for measures that result in
arbitrary cuts to social assistance and have devastating impacts to
refugee claimants’ lives on the basis of their immigration status
sufficient to rebut this presumption.
• Principles similar to the rule against non-retrogression have been
espoused by the Supreme Court of Canada, which has held that
once the government puts in place a scheme to provide benefits, that
scheme must be administered in a Charter-compliant way. ( Denying
social, 2014)

16. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpLDa0365Eo
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RMNb1JFZrE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qic0NZR9O9c

17. • Deliberate attempts at worsening the lives of refugee
claimants, who are already in situations of extreme
precariousness, by restricting their access to social
assistance violates Canada’s protection obligations under
the Refugee Convention.
• Bill C-585 should be immediately withdrawn. It
contravenes numerous international human rights
obligations binding on Canada. The impact of the Bill
would be devastating to individuals who have suffered a
great deal in their home countries and have fled to
Canada in order to seek protection.
• It would deliberately prolong their suffering and deny
them the protection they so desperately need and that
Canada has committed to providing.

18. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSO8iRgkZEM
• Q 1. After watching this video clip what do you think how
refugees are going to survive without social assistance?
• Q 2. Should Refugee’s have access to social assistance
if they are awaiting deportation?
• Q 3. Do you believe, Bill C585 may effect Canada’s
reputation when it comes to “being a world leader in
protecting refugees since past 40 years”?

19. • Keung, N. (2014, Sept 14). Bill tabled to ban refugees from social assistance.
Toronto Star. Retrieved from
http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2014/09/14/bill_tabled_to_
ban_refugees_from_social_assistance.html
• Bill C-585: An Act to Exclude Refugees from Social Assistance. (2014). Retrieved
from http://www.cwp- csp.ca/2014/06/bill-c-585-an-act-to-exclude-refugees-
from-social-assistance/
• Nerenberg, K. (2014, September 23). The Conservetive War on refugee
continues. Rabble.ca. Retrieved from http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/karl-
nerenberg/2014/09/conservative-war-on-refugees-continues
• Amnesty International. (2014). Denying social assistance to refugee claimants
violates international law. Retrieved from
http://www.amnesty.ca/news/public-statements/denying-social-
assistance-to-refugee-claimants-violates-international-law-bill
• Canada Without Poverty. (2014). An act to exclude refugee from social
Assistance. Retrieved from http://www.cwp- csp.ca/2014/06/bill-c-585-
an-act-to-exclude-refugees-from-social-assistance/e