EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier headline incorrectly stated that the Liberals were axing the plan to let police access online data without a warrant. This has been corrected. They tabled new border bill legislation that does not include that provision, but say they will still pursue it under separate legislation.
The Liberal government on Wednesday tabled a new version of its sweeping border security bill that removes a controversial proposal to make it easier for police to access Canadians’ internet data without a warrant.
But Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said he still wants those “lawful access” powers, as well as other parts of Bill C-2 that raised privacy concerns, to be considered separately while seeking “broader support” for the border and immigration changes that will now be prioritized under the new bill, now dubbed C-12.
“From the outset, I’ve been very clear …. that we are open and willing to work with stakeholders as well as all parties on strengthening the bill, and making sure that it finds the right balance between civil liberties and the ability of law enforcement to more effectively do their jobs,” the minister told reporters after tabling the bill in the House of Commons.
The so-called “lawful access” provision in the original bill, dubbed the Strong Borders Act, would have allowed law enforcement to demand subscription and transmission data from any online provider in Canada without a judicial warrant under a threshold privacy experts warned was dangerously low.
Civil liberties advocates and legal experts told Global News the language of the bill meant any provider of an online service — from telecoms to dating sites to private contractors to therapists — could be subject to those demands, with little recourse to challenge them in court.
Michael Geist, a professor and Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, called the proposed measure “perhaps one of the biggest overreaches we’ve seen from any government when it comes to Canadian privacy.”
Canadian police chiefs have pushed for the lawful access measure, and Anandasangaree framed it as important to fight online predators, child pornographers and sexploitation offenders, noting Canada is the only Five Eyes member without such powers.
“My invitation to all of you is to really look at the challenges that law enforcement is facing today,” he told reporters.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
“We need to be absolutely clear: there are civil liberties elements that we need to ensure there are safeguards (for), but there is certainly a need for consensus for us to have an element of lawful access that will both protect individual victims but also protect the civil liberties of Canadians.”
While the minister insists the data police could access would be limited to basic data on whether someone subscribed to a service, privacy experts say that alone can reveal personal details that would violate Charter privacy rights.
Bill C-12 removes the “lawful access” provision as well as one that would have expanded the ability to inspect Canada Post mail, and an anti-money laundering measure that would have set a $10,000 limit for cash payments and deposits.
Those proposals will now carry forward under a new version of C-2 that Anandasangaree said would have sections repetitive with C-12 removed after the new bill passes through the House, which the minister says he hopes to see happen first within “several weeks” from now.
Conservatives had said in recent days they wouldn’t support the border and immigration measures in Bill C-2 unless the police search powers were removed, threatening the minority Liberals’ chance to pass legislation they have said would address border security demands from the Trump administration.
Anandasangaree was asked whether he split up Bill C-2 under pressure from the Prime Minister’s Office to get those border measures passed, and said no.
“This happened as a result of conversations I’ve had with a number of people,” he said, including “a range of stakeholders as well as parliamentarians.”
Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer said the party would review the new legislation before committing to supporting the Liberals’ new plan.
“They got it so wrong so badly right off the bat that the minister’s basically had to use a mulligan and a do-over,” he told reporters.
“We signaled our opposition to massive overreaches by the government in violating the privacy rights of Canadians, breaking long-standing principles in our justice system of governments requiring some kind of judicial oversight before they open mail and go through people’s personal records.”
Bill C-12 otherwise replicates most of what was contained on Bill C-2 in regards to the border, immigration and combatting fentanyl.
Under the proposed legislation, asylum claims made more than a year after arriving in Canada would not be referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board, and entrants from the U.S. under the Safe Third Country Agreement will have just 14 days to make an asylum claim in order to be considered.
The bill would also “improve and modernize” the existing asylum system by simplifying the application process, speeding up both referrals and removal orders, and removing inactive cases from the system. Claims will only be decided on while a person is physically present in Canada.
It also gives the government the power to outright suspend new applications and the processing of existing claims “for matters of public health and national security,” and improve information sharing of immigration documents and information among different levels of government and law enforcement.
The NDP and migrant rights groups have slammed those provisions and called for the bill to be withdrawn.
“No one’s safety is served by measures that block refugees from hearings, impose retroactive time limits on safety, and grant mass status-cancellation powers that violate due process protections for the most vulnerable,” Karen Cocq, a spokesperson for the Migrant Rights Network, said in a statement Wednesday.
“This new bill is the same as Bill C-2. PM Carney’s government remains aligned with Conservative Trump-like anti-migrant sentiment.”
The bill also seeks to improve sex offender information sharing with law enforcement partners in the U.S. and across Canada.
As for fentanyl, the government aims to make precursor chemicals used to produce the illicit opioid controlled substances, which would allow greater federal oversight of those shipments.
Ports of entry, transporters and warehouse operators will be required to allow Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officials to conduct export inspections, matching existing requirements for import inspections.
The bill would also give the Canadian Coast Guard expanded powers to conduct security patrols and collect and share information for security purposes, but does not restore the port policing system that was eliminated in the 1990s.
