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OTTAWA — Immigration Minister Lena Diab’s office is defending new rules that may strike down thousands of refugee claims, saying difficult decisions are required to regain control of Canada’s immigration system.
Under Ottawa’s new border law C-12, which passed in March, refugee claims must be made within a year of a claimant’s first arrival in Canada in order to go through the regular refugee process.
The changes are retroactive to June 24, 2020, and the rule applies to all claims made on or after June 3, 2025. The department estimates about 30,000 existing claimants have been sent notices warning their claims may now be deemed ineligible.
Those claimants include a Palestinian man who donated a kidney to his Canadian sister in 2023, during a roughly seven-week stay in Canada, and an Iranian political activist whose identity was leaked to the regime in July 2025, after the one-year rule took retroactive effect.
Claimants who receive those notices are given 21 days to provide additional evidence to support their claims.
Laura Blondeau, Diab’s communications director, said in an emailed response there are safeguards in place, including a pause on removals to certain countries and pre-removal risk assessments for individuals whose claims won’t be heard by the Immigration and Refugee Board.
“Our government has a clear mandate to regain control over all aspects of our immigration system, and we’re doing it,” Blondeau said.
“There is no question, this involves decision-making that is often difficult. The minister’s approach has been to ensure potentially impacted persons are fully informed.”
Jenny Kwan, the NDP’s immigration critic, called the one-year rule “arbitrary” and “draconian” and said people with claims that seem to be legitimate are now being told they may no longer be eligible.
“It is not assessing people on the basis of whether or not they are a genuine refugee … but rather it is a completely arbitrary timeline that the Liberals have imposed, regardless of people’s situation,” Kwan told The Canadian Press.
The new rule was introduced in response to a massive increase in the number of refugee claims in recent years and a backlog in applications being reviewed.
Immigration officials told parliamentary committees studying the bill that there were about 300,000 claims before the Immigration and Refugee Board at the end of 2025, and staff are able to process 80,000 to 90,000 claims annually. That results in a roughly three-year wait to process a refugee claim.
The minister has said the backlog is due in part to an increase in the number of people on temporary visas making refugee claims before their permits expire.
Kwan said this new rule is even stricter than American refugee rules, which say a person needs to make a claim within one year of their most recent entry to the country.
The Senate debated an amendment to C-12 that would have changed the starting point for the refugee claim timeline from first entry to most recent entry. It was not adopted.
Kwan argued that this new rule puts Canada in violation of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and could leave the government open to legal challenges.
“I’m already hearing from advocates and lawyers in the community that are seeing these issues emerge. And it’s going to become even more critical for the government to take action,” Kwan said.
Blondeau said Diab is committed to ensuring that those affected will continue to receive “robust, clear and timely” communication from the immigration department.
The Canadian Press requested comment from the Conservative party but has not received a reply.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2026.
David Baxter, The Canadian Press
