Bills C-2 and C-12: The Wrong Prescription for Canada’s Health and Safety

Health depends on care, dignity, and privacy – not punishment or control. The federal government’s proposed Strong Borders Act (Bill C-2) and Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act (Bill C-12) prioritizes the latter. These bills will make it harder for migrants to access healthcare, deepen Canada’s toxic drug crisis, and expand government surveillance into every aspect of people’s lives.

While HIV rates are decreasing globally, they are increasing in Canada. We should be removing barriers to care – not entrenching them in law.

Add your voice today. Urge the Prime Minister, Minister of Health, Minister of Public Safety, and Minister of Immigration to withdraw Bills C-2 and C-12 and commit to evidence-based policies that protect health and save lives.

For more details on each of these points, please read the HIV Legal Network’s information sheet on Bills C-2 and C-12.

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Tell the federal government: Withdraw Bills C-2 and C-12 now.

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Dear Prime Minister and Ministers:

I am writing to urge you to withdraw Bill C-2 (the Strong Borders Act) and Bill C-12 (the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act), and, failing that, to vote against them.

Bill C-2, the government’s first piece of legislation, is an omnibus bill that restricts protections, while expanding criminalization and surveillance under the guise of “border security.” Bill C-12, introduced in response to criticism, keeps nearly all the same harmful provisions. Together, they will undermine public health and safety.

Refugee protection and healthcare access: Both bills will impose a one-year bar on refugee claims and expand the Safe Third Country Agreement, blocking most people arriving from the US from seeking asylum. Those barred will be rerouted to a narrow, paper-based risk assessment. Others will lose legal status as the Minister gains new powers to suspend or cancel documents in the “public interest” – which will cut people off from health coverage. Those barred from refugee protection, or who lose their status, will be more likely to be placed in immigration detention, where access to healthcare is uneven at best.

Drug policy and public health: Both bills would allow the government to fast-track bans on “precursor” chemicals used to make drugs, repeating decades of failed prohibition that have made the drug supply more toxic. This approach fuels Canada’s health crisis – pushing people who use drugs away from care and increasing the risks of HIV, hepatitis C, and fatal drug toxicity.

Surveillance and privacy: Bill C-2 would also government state access to personal data, allowing warrant-free information-sharing between agencies and even across borders. It would permit police and intelligence services to obtain electronic data from companies under reduced oversight. Such measures undermine confidentiality and erode the trust people need to access healthcare.

While HIV rates are decreasing globally, they are increasing in Canada. These bills would make that situation worse by expanding criminalization, surveillance, and exclusion rather than investing in prevention, treatment, and care.

For more details on each of these point, please read the HIV Legal Network’s information sheet on Bills C-2 and C-12 at: www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/HIVLN-INFO-SHEET-Bill-C-2-C-12-.pdf

The government must withdraw Bills C-2 and C-12 and commit to evidence-based, health-focused policies that protect – not endanger – people’s lives.

Sincerely,

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