November 21, 2013

Mario D. Bellissimo Speaks on Changes to Canada’s IRPA

Mario D. Bellissimo appeared today before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs in his role as Chair of the National Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association. This section represents numerous lawyers who practice immigration and refugee law in Canada. At issue are the proposed amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) contained in Bill C-4, an omnibus bill that contains legislation on an array of topics.

Check out the video of Mr. Bellissimo speaking about changes to the IRPA. An audio clip of the entire proceedings is also available.

Mr. Bellissimo first expressed the support of the CBA Law Section for the government’s efforts to modernize and streamline the selection system for economic class immigrants, and for addressing backlogs in the system.

Areas of concern for the Law Section were also addressed. These included the use of omnibus bills to make changes to many unrelated subjects at once, and framework legislation that gives the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration singular authority to make changes to protocol. This approach avoids the process of public consultation and meaningful parliamentary debate, which can provide useful insights and may be instructive to how changes are eventually implemented.

The Section of the CBA had many questions for the Senate Committee on the subject of the new Expression of Interest (EOI) system that is to be implemented.

The CBA calls for further consultation and study to help with the successful implementation of these new changes.

Further reading on the CBA’s position can be viewed in this open letter.