Farmers’ union calls for border bill to be scrapped
By Lethbridge Herald on August 21, 2025.
Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The National Farmer’s Union (NFU) is wanting to put a stop to Bill C-2 which is currently in Parliament. The bill calls for sweeping changes to Canada’s immigration and trade policies, some of which extend into the agriculture industry.
Known as the Strong Borders Act, C-2 completed its first reading in the House of Commons on June 3. The bill is a House Government Bill and was sponsored by the Minister of Public Safety, Gary Anandasangaree.
James Hannay, a policy assistant with the NFU, says the union wants to see the legislation retracted.
“We have a position that it should be repealed, that the process of debate in the House should be stopped and we’ve joined in with the number of groups that have signed on to an open letter to repeal the bill and to essentially stop its passage through the House and the Senate.”
According to Hannay, approximately 30 per cent of Canada’s agricultural workforce are migrant workers, some on temporary basis. The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) allows temporary foreign workers from participating countries which is primarily Mexico and surrounding Caribbean countries.
SAWP workers can be in the country for a maximum of eight months between Jan. 1 and Dec. 15 as long as they are provided a minimum of 240 hours or work within a six week period.
With every bill introduced into the House of Commons, the Minister of Justice prepares a charter statement to help inform the public and parliamentary debate.
The statement indicates that the new powers to cancel or modify immigration documents could interfere with certain sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Hannay says part of the issue with the bill is the broadness of the power that would be granted.
“There’s very little clarification about how the new power is granted to immigration officials and even to ministers will affect the safety of Canada’s migrant workers. Given that migrant workers already face some extreme vulnerability. We’re very concerned that Bill C-2 has the potential to exacerbate those vulnerabilities and the abuse that migrant workers in Canada experience.”
Bill C-2 would allow the deportation of asylum-seeking refugees without a hearing, even if they entered Canada more then a year prior.
In an article published by The Guardian, undocumented farm workers in the United States said they felt they were being “hunted like animals” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Hannay says Canada would look very similar if they passed Bill C-2.
“I think we risk becoming complicit in some of those extra judicial actions that ICE is taking in the United States. One of the big aspects of Bill C-2 is limiting the sort of safe refuge that migrants coming to Canada can receive when it comes to coming from the United States and being deported back to the United States when seeking refugee status. A migrant worker who may be undocumented, who is fleeing abuse in the United States, which we know are very relevant (and) are very common given the reporting on ICE’s actions, especially to migrant farm workers. They risk being deported back into a place where they face great danger.”
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Perhaps the PM, his cabinet and members of his caucus might spend a few days working in the fields with migrant workers in order to gain an appreciation for and an understanding of the plight of migrant workers and how Bill C-2 erodes rights and freedoms for them and essentially for all of us.