Strengthening the Canadian sanctions regime to make sure foreign nationals who have been sanctioned can’t enter or remain in Canada is worth supporting, writes the Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association in a letter to the House of Commons Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. But the amendments in Bill S-8, to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and other Acts and Regulations, need a few improvements.

The Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association supports retroactively restoring citizenship to individuals who lost theirs under s. 8 of the Citizenship Act. In a letter to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, the Section makes two recommendations to improve Bill S-245, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (granting citizenship to certain Canadians). The CBA Section appeared in front of the Committee to present its recommendations on March 27.

The Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Community Section of the Canadian Bar Association, in a letter responding to Department of Justice Canada consultation, adds it voice to the calls for reforming the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure.

The Charities and Not-for-Profit Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association appreciates that the Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency is offering guidance to the charitable sector on the amendments to the Income Tax Act in Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1 related to grants to non-qualified donees.

Bill C-20 seeks to establish a Public Complaints and Review Commission to review and investigate complaints against Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canada Border Services Agency personnel. The Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association says the Bill represents an important reform of mechanisms to make complaints but it has 11 key concerns about the Bill as it relates to the CBSA. The most salient are summarized below.

The Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, in a letter to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, says it’s time to speed up the process of issuing cards to approved applicants for permanent residence.

Two letters from the Canadian Bar Association propose improvements to the Immigration Refugee Board’s stakeholder consultations and offer comments on the review of specific principles guiding adjudicating and managing cases.

The Canadian Bar Association, in a letter signed by Policy Committee Chair Thomas Ullyett, asks the Federation of Law Societies to add family law to the National Requirement and shares with the federation feedback from recent calls and individuals pursuing the requirements to be called to the bar on whether the requirements reflect the skills needed to be successful in the profession.

The Criminal Justice Section of the Canadian Bar Association supports gun control generally, as well as the objectives of Bill C-21. But as it explains in a letter to the Chair of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, there are reasons certain elements of An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms) should be redrafted to better achieve those objectives.

Much more needs to be done to ensure the rights of French-speaking people in Canada are respected in the country’s legal system. That’s the gist of the message the French Speaking Common Law Members Section of the Canadian Bar Association sent to the Standing Committee on Official Languages about Bill C-13, An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages, introduced in the House of Commons March 1, 2022.