Critics say Canada’s new immigration and border laws put LGBTQ+ people at risk – National

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Mark Carney and MPs from other political parties came together to raise the pride flag in Parliament House.

But an advocacy group that helps LGBTQ refugees come to Canada and the US says the federal government’s new border law puts people at risk of being sent back to countries where they face persecution.

Devon Matthews, Rainbow Railroad’s chief programming officer, said his organization is concerned about its working relationship with Ottawa as the federal government reduces the number of refugees it accepts and cuts funding to the organization.

He said he was also alarmed by the new law that requires refugee applications to be made within a year of the applicant’s first arrival in Canada.

“It has nothing to do with the reasons why someone isn’t waiting or why someone isn’t meeting the bar for one year,” Matthews told The Canadian Press.

“It’s really just a eligibility requirement that doesn’t work to give someone an opportunity to address the issues of why they had to wait.”

A former international student in the Middle East who lived as an openly gay man in Canada is among those left behind by the new law.

The former student told The Canadian Press that he applied for refugee status after photos of his time here in Canada were found when he returned home, putting his safety at risk.

But he said that because he studied in Canada for two and a half years starting in 2022, he was told that his refugee claim was ineligible under the new border bill, C-12.

The Canadian Press has agreed not to mention his name or his country of origin because of the dangers facing his surviving family members.

“I was supporting the LGBTQ community and I was at a lot of events and other stories from social media that leaked into my community back then,” he said.

So some incidents and … some pictures had fallen into the hands of bad people and they threatened to report to the police and beat me. So it happened more than once, and the last time it happened I felt that I can’t live like that and I will be living in fear.”

Several countries in the Middle East have laws punishing LGBTQ people with prison sentences. The refugee said that his family will also face social and economic problems because of his position.

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“If you are discovered as an LGBTQ person, that’s the end of your life. You can’t work, you can be arrested in your home,” he said. “Also, it’s a shame for the family, because it’s not acceptable.

“I ran away because if that happened I would spend my life in prison. Even if they don’t lock me up for a long time, that’s because of my work, that’s my life.”

He said his refugee claim is progressing well and has been approved for a file review – a rare check on low-risk refugee claims.

But when C-12 passed earlier this year, he was one of about 30,000 people who received letters saying their refugee claim may no longer be valid because they first entered Canada more than a year before applying.

The one-year rule applies to refugee claims made on or after June 3, 2025 and retroactively to first arrivals on or after June 24, 2020.

Although refugee claims filed by people in this situation will not be sent to the Immigration and Refugee Board for review, they are still eligible for a pre-removal risk assessment, or PRRA. The PRRA has historically had a low approval rate because it has tended to be the primary means of transferring rejected claims to the IRB.

The PRRA process is primarily paper based but interviews may be requested if the officer requires more information.

Immigration Minister Lena Diab told a Senate committee in February that if it’s clear that people should be able to stay in Canada based on written evidence, “they get a ‘yes’ right away.”

The government said it introduced the annual rule in part because some people were applying for asylum to stay in Canada after their temporary visas expired.

Diab told the Senate committee that 37 percent of refugee claims made between June 3, 2025 and Oct. 31, 2025 – about 19,000 documents – will be considered ineligible under the one-year rule.

Suzy Newing, a former lawyer for the Middle Eastern students, said her client’s eligibility is being challenged in court on constitutional grounds arguing that he has a right to an oral hearing – not guaranteed in the PRRA system – and anti-discrimination provisions.

He said there are various reasons why an LGBTQ+ person may not make a refugee claim within a year of first arriving in Canada.

“For example, maybe they come to Canada before they realize or express or accept their sexuality, and then they start expressing that here. That may not happen within one year of coming to Canada,” said Newing.

“It’s possible that they knew (their position) all this time, but they were able to hide it in their country of origin. Then the one-year bar dictates when they come out to their family members, because usually that’s where the danger happens … when people come out to their family members when they’re here in Canada.”

Most Federal Court challenges to refugee claims deemed ineligible under the new law have been moved to file review, so the judge is expected to issue a broad ruling on the constitutionality of the one-year ruling.

The Middle Eastern refugee claimant will now have to wait for the PRRA or a court decision to learn if they will be allowed to stay in Canada.

He said that even if he is allowed to stay, his hope in Canada is shaky.

“Now I feel like I’ve been attacked by everyone, the government, Canadians and they want people to leave,” he said.

“You drive those people out, you kill them because they don’t come back to live happily, fun and everything. You send them back to death.”

Matthews said the Rainbow Railroad saw the largest number of requests for assistance in 2025 — more than 20,000, a 51 percent increase over 2024. He said the organization is on the way to receiving more requests for assistance this year.

Matthews said the Rainbow Railroad is considering expanding its political activism to respond.