Doug Cannon Interviewed by the Victoria Times Colonist Regarding New Refugee Laws

Doug Cannon, one of the founding partners of Elgin, Cannon & Associates, was recently interviewed by Katie Derosa from the Victoria Times Colonist regarding Canada’s new refugee laws. Ms. Derosa’s article provides a very insightful view of Canada’s new laws and it questions the federal governments true intentions behind enacting this legislation. According to the federal government, the new refugee laws, which are set to come into effect in December, are designed to “ensure that our refugee system is not hijacked by criminals or terrorists.” One way the federal government is trying to achieve this purpose is by imposing indefinite mandatory detention for refugee seekers. According to the federal government, mandatory detention gives the federal government time to ensure the necessary security checks are done before an individual is released into society. However, will the new laws really achieve this purpose? According to Doug, Canada’s existing laws are already effective in identifying and detaining individuals that are security risks. Treating every refugee claimant as a security risk is simply “reckless and foolish”. Furthermore, our new laws are based on the Australian refugee system, a system which has been shown to be ineffective, costly and which results in potential refugee claimants suffering damaging psychological harm.

To read the article click the following link: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Mandatory+detention+refugee+claimants+already+proved+failure+critics/7563279/story.html#ixzz2ChBYWwP1