Anti-Migrant Rhetoric, Bill C-12, and Colonial Origins of Borders: Our Reflections from the Migrant Justice Conference
The Language Access Coalition of Canada attended the Research and Advocacy: Sanctuary, Solidarity and the Politics of Migrant Justice conference at Toronto Metropolitan University on September 19, 2026. This conference was organized by the Chair on Migrant Protection and International Law | Chaire sur la protection des personnes migrantes et le droit international, FCJ Refugee Centre, and Soli*city - An International Partnership Project, with the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Law Commission of Canada | Commission du droit du Canada.
The event combined research and academic knowledge with grassroots advocacy and lived experiences into a multifaceted conversation. Intentional and intersectional research was presented as education, grounding narratives in objective truths. Lived experiences presented the real challenges faced by migrants and advocates alike, highlighting the current political climate and anti-migrant rhetoric as major drivers of changing immigration policies.
The reflection we are proposing draws from interventions from each of the panelists. Here is the complete list of contributors for reference, with gratitude to each speaker and organizer of this event.
The Current Reality
What came through for us at LACC was a picture that cannot be ignored. Each panelist and speaker contributed to connecting the dots, tracing a line from colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade to the construction of borders as racial structures that continue to shape our world today. These borders don't exist only at the edges of a country. They close in on the individual and become barriers to services, from opening a bank account to accessing healthcare and education.
Bill C-12 was also mentioned as a legal architecture framed in structural racism, and dissected into the most salient points that clearly evidenced this. Research presented showed how precarity is not a failure of Canada's immigration system but rather its direct product, and concluded that instead of fixing the system, our collective efforts should be oriented towards building a completely new one, detaching it from its colonial origins.
Lived experiences and research also entwined with the 2023 UN report declaring that Canada's closed work permits are a breeding ground for contemporary slavery. Migrants whose status is tied to a single employer put employers in control of immigration, as well as exposing migrants to an even more vulnerable position, facing abuse and the suppression of rights that are on paper but cannot be enforced in reality.
Canada addressed this with the Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) applications, a special pathway that allows people who are otherwise ineligible for permanent residence to request an exemption based on "exceptional personal circumstances". However, these permits are issued at the discretion of an immigration officer and have a limited duration of up to a year, with the risk of an applicant having to go back to their original conditions once it expires.
H&C were supposed to be a temporary fix while working toward longer-term sustainable solutions, and yet, they became a permanent feature of the regularization maze migrants have to navigate alone, accounting for 56% of failures in application acceptance.
On the other hand, thanks to Bill C-12, Administrative Deferral of Removals (ADR) and Temporary Suspension of Removals (TSR) are decreasing, while the number of migrants being deported is on the rise. In 2026 alone, 14,897 individuals were removed, almost double the number reported four years prior, and at the time of publication of this blog, the year is not over yet.
Cuts to temporary immigration caps, social and community services, First Nations programs, emergency preparedness, climate change, and education in favour of investments in Artificial Intelligence and defence complete the picture.
Where Hope Lives
LACC has been engaging with our members, organizations that have been operating within local communities at the intersection of service access and language access, and we are hearing the same story: fewer personnel, less funding, workers spread thin trying to manage the volume of requests and support their communities. The connection is clear.
Yet, the conference was followed by a series of rallies across the country, and in Toronto, it was held at Christie Pits Park the following day, marking the Cross-Country Day of Action for Migrant Rights on September 20. The voices of migrants, academics, community workers, advocates, and activists created a powerful choir calling for justice, and naming what we are witnessing all across the world as a crisis of inequality.
And amongst all this, there is still trying, persevering, and resisting. Highlights from the advocates were clear: we need a new kind of advocacy. Advocacy that is strategic and moves away from what could only work in the past. We need to call for new systems. We need political education in communities. Expanded influence from local to international allies.
We need to provide a space for individuals to express themselves and their experiences in their own language, validating their community leadership, instead of building credentials to speak for others. We need marching and acting. In our workplaces, in our social circles, at every turn, we need to provide the support we can in the moment, but also question why the gap is there, why this is happening.
For us working at the intersection of language and service access, this moment calls for us to stand together. Now is the time for hope and courage.
Standing Together
We want to hear from you and celebrate your victories; even the smallest ones can make a difference. The Coalition is a space to support everyone who works for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. We are here to amplify your voice and the voice of the communities you stand with.
We are ready to connect with you - send us an email at languageadvocacyday@gmail.com and let's stand together for our communities.
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