CMLA’s Statement On Bill C-12

Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association Urges Parliament to Halt the Passing of Bill C-12.

Toronto, ON – [November 24, 2025] — The Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association (CMLA) is calling on the government to halt the passing of Bill C-12 (the “Bill”), given that the legislation represent a profound expansion of state power that will disproportionately harm racialized communities and undermine foundational principles of justice, accountability, and due process in Canada.

Founded in 1998, the CMLA has long advocated for the rights and dignity of communities most affected by Canada’s evolving national-security and immigration frameworks. The work of the CMLA is driven by the core values of promoting the human rights and dignity of all people, of which Canadian Muslims and Muslims in Canada are a subset; and the rule of law which includes holding our elected officials accountable to the necessity and effectiveness of the legislations it proposes and implements. We not only speak when Canadian Muslim and Muslims in Canada are adversely affected by proposed legislation but also recognize that the post-9/11 era of national security means that a wide range of racialized and vulnerable populations are caught by the vast net cast in the efforts to spot and deter terrorism.

The advocacy arm of the CMLA actively participates in discourse on national security and border protection law and policy, including its intersection with immigration law. The CMLA has appeared as a public interest intervenor before the Supreme Court of Canada, testified before Parliamentary committees, and engaged in public discourse on these critical issues. We provide a critically needed perspective of the potential impacts of government conduct and proposed legislation on racialized and marginalized communities through the lens of rights and values enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Canadian and International human rights laws.

Today, we reiterate that mandate. The proposed Bill threatens to entrench inequities that Canada has not adequately confronted.

1. Disproportionate Harm to Racialized Communities Within an Expanding Security Framework

The Bill significantly enlarges investigative, surveillance, and information-sharing powers across national-security and immigration systems. History shows that such powers—once expanded—are most heavily deployed against racialized and marginalized communities.

This concern is not speculative; it is well-established in Canadian jurisprudence.

For example, in R v Le, 2019 SCC 34, the Supreme Court of Canada expressly affirmed that state authorities have a heightened responsibility to remain vigilant to the privacy, dignity, and equality interests of racialized communities, precisely because these communities experience chronic over-policing and systemic surveillance. The Court recognized that broader social and historical contexts cannot be divorced from the exercise of police and state powers.

The Bill runs directly counter to that principle, in that it introduces:

• sweeping, undefined information-sharing authority, including with foreign states;

• expanded surveillance under the guise of border integrity and national security without justification for need;

• heightened investigative powers without corresponding oversight; and

• Further re-inforcing racial profiling, data-sharing harms, and state scrutiny of communities already disproportionately monitored.

The CMLA has been consistent in its advocacy before several Parliamentary and Senate committees warning that Canada’s national-security framework, when expanded without safeguards, inevitably over-captures racialized populations. The Bill is no exception—it deepens this trend and weakens accountability at a time when the need for oversight is more urgent than ever.

As the national security framework becomes more integrated

across agencies such as CSIS, CSEC, RCMP, and CBSA, the

CMLA continues to call for independent review and oversight of these agencies. For instance, the oversight agency for the RCMP and CBSA that was long championed for, and passed despite significant concerns with Bill C-20, is yet to become operational. Moreover, an IRCC ombudsman, which has long been advocated for, has been indefinitely postponed, which only exacerbates much-needed oversight.

2. Unprecedented Ministerial and Agency Powers Without Democratic Oversight

The CMLA is deeply concerned that the Bill grants the Minister and enforcement agencies extraordinary discretion to suspend, cancel, or refuse to process immigration applications, and to do so by category, nationality, or class—entirely outside the parliamentary process.

These powers include the ability to:

• refuse to accept for processing, suspend or terminate immigration applications without parliamentary oversight;

• vary, place conditions on, suspend, or cancel immigration documents through Governor-in-Council orders, and

• exercise detention, arrest, and investigative powers with lowered thresholds for justification.

Taken together, these amendments risk producing a constant state of insecurity for applicants, temporary residents, permanent residents, and refugee claimants. For many, these decisions concern family unity, safety, livelihood, and long-term settlement planning in Canada. Granting the government unchecked authority to terminate entire inventories of applications, indefinitely suspend them, or refuse to accept them after applicants have invested significantly into making the applications —affecting tens of thousands of individuals and their families at once—represents an unprecedented move away from due-process protections that have long underpinned Canada’s immigration and administrative law systems.

These powers are especially alarming given that, as noted earlier, the CBSA oversight body passed under Bill C-20 has not yet been operationalized and the integration of automation and AI-driven decision-making have already produced systemic inequities.

Rushing the Bill through Parliament without meaningful consultation—particularly without hearing from both racialized communities most affected and subject matter experts from civil society groups—contradicts the principles of transparency and accountability that should govern any national-security or immigration reform.

Each expansion of national-security and enforcement powers inevitably magnifies the vulnerabilities of racialized communities, unless accompanied by rigorous oversight, necessity-based justification, and robust protection of rights.

The proposed Bill provides none of these safeguards.

Canada’s immigration laws must reflect not only concerns for public safety, but an unwavering commitment to equality, due process, and human dignity. Bill C-12 falls far short of these obligations.

Media Contact

Pantea Jafari

Tel: 416 825 0650

Email: Jafari@jafarilaw.ca