Immigration Minister Jason Kenney (right), a Catholic, is unhappy with bureaucrats in CCCB offices who "cut and paste" arguments circulating in "fake grassroots coalitions" of "special interest groups in the immigration industry." CCN photo.By Deborah Gyapong
OTTAWA (CCN)

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, a Catholic, has fired back at a public letter from Canada's bishops criticizing his anti-human-smuggling bill.

The letter reflects a "long tradition of ideological bureaucrats who work for the bishops' conference producing political letters signed by pastors who may not have specialized knowledge in certain areas of policy," Kenney said in an interview.

The bishops' intervention underscores the reason why "the Church makes the detailed application of moral principles in public policy the prudential responsibility of legislators who have a technical knowledge of how to apply the principles," he said.

The Nov. 25 public letter from the justice and peace commission of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops warned clauses of Bill C-49 now before the House of Commons might contravene international and Canadian law concerning the rights of refugees.

The bishops reminded Kenney national interests and security should not trump human dignity.

"We believe that human smuggling undermines human dignity," Kenney said.  "It's an industry of profiteers who sell people an illegal service to smuggle them to countries in the most dangerous way possible."

"My single greatest concern about this wave of human smuggling is that people will die seeking to come to Canada in this way," he said. Canada has a "real moral obligation to do everything we reasonably can to prevent rusty leaky boats" full of migrants from crossing the Pacific Ocean.

The bishops' letter does not address the ethical obligation to stop smuggling, he said, noting it also conflates smuggling, which is a black market service illegal migrants pay for, and human trafficking which is involuntary and a form of slavery.

Kenney said the letter "falsely suggests that the bill seeks to 'punish refugees.'"

"That's ridiculous," he said.  "We will not deport anyone determined to be a bona fide refugee."

The bishops said the bill penalized refugees more than it penalized smugglers, and noted its authorization of detention for long periods violates a refugee convention signed by Canada.

"Even those who arrive through an illegal and dangerous human-smuggling operation would be potentially eligible for permanent residency after a five-year period," Kenney said.

The bishops said the bill "risks creating serious obstacles to sponsorship and family reunification," but Kenney argued the steps are necessary to deter people from paying smugglers to get into Canada.

"If you help to finance a criminal smuggling syndicate to come to Canada there is a consequence that you won't enjoy the privilege of family sponsorship for a period of five years," he said. "We don't think that's unreasonable."

"What the bill seeks to do is change the business model of the smugglers by reducing the price point," he said.

People are willing to pay $50,000 to the smuggling syndicates because they are making a reasonable calculation that they would be able to sponsor several family members shortly after arriving, he said.

Bill C-49 addresses the demand side of smuggling through measures that have been proved successful in Australia, he said.  When Australia removed permanent residence status from marine migrants from 2002-2008, the illegal vessels virtually stopped.  Since Australia reinstated permanent residency and family sponsorship, about 10,000 migrants have arrived there "under very dangerous conditions," he said.

Kenney noted the bishops' letter objects to enhanced detention provisions that he said are far more modest "for people who just show up" than those that exist in other liberal democracies. They are based on "the simple legal principle that states have the right and responsibility to protect the integrity of their borders and to ensure legal migration," he said.

Canada has a right to know who is coming into the country and whether they pose a danger to public safety, he said.

Kenney said he has a "profound moral and political responsibility to ensure ongoing public support for immigration and refugee protection."

He described the shiploads of smuggled migrants as a "flagrant violation of the fairness and integrity of our immigration system," and said polls show they have caused "a massive reduction" in broad public support for legal immigration as well as refugee protection.

"Two-thirds of Canadians said we should stop the boat in foreign waters and turn it back, which implies the possible use of force," he said. "Over half said we should deport even those who are deemed to be refugees."

"[The bishops] say just target the smugglers with enhanced penalties," Kenney said.  "That alone would be completely ineffective."

Most of the smugglers "live beyond the reach of our law," he said, noting not a single charge has been laid under legal provisions already available.

"These are the kinds of prudential considerations that I have an obligation to take into account," he said. "I can't just whip off a 300-word letter and wash my hands of the problem."

Kenney said he would prefer that the bureaucrats who write these letters or the bishops themselves would dialogue first about the prudential considerations rather than "cut and paste" arguments circulating in "fake grassroots coalitions" of "special interest groups in the immigration industry."

Kenney said the bishops' conference has not said anything to congratulate the government on its 20-per-cent increase in its resettlement of refugees, or of its 20-per-cent increase in a fund to help with that resettlement, even though the program is "hugely unpopular politically."

Nor has the conference commended the government for resettling 20,000 mainly Christian refugees from Iraq, though individual bishops like Archbishop Collins in Toronto, have shown "extraordinary leadership" on this issue, Kenney said.