Highlights from the 2018 federal budget

  • April 25, 2018

As far as the CBA’s Immigration Law Section is concerned, there’s a lot to be happy with in the 2018 federal budget.

The budget, brought down in late February, addresses a number of issues that the Section has brought to the attention of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in the past, including legal aid, support for asylum seekers and protection for temporary foreign workers.

Specifically, the government has pledged $173.2 million for processing asylum claimants and funding to bolster the decision-making capacity of the IRB, which continues to struggle with a backlog of claims; additional money for legal aid services for asylum claimants; and $194.1 million over five years to ensure the rights of temporary foreign workers.

While the Section considers these to be first steps – additional funding for legal aid would be welcome – they are steps in the right direction.

The Immigration Law Section is not alone in singling out aspects of the budget, some of which were included in Bill C-74, the Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1. The budget text acknowledged several areas of interest to the CBA, including small business taxation, security and access to justice issues, funding for the modernization of courts, boosting legal aid and additional mental health support for the incarcerated.

In a submission this January the CBA called for more judicial appointments and the expansion of Ontario’s system of unified family courts. The federal budget included $77.2 million over four years enhance unified family courts in Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Bill C-74 introduces amendments to the Judges Act to create six new positions on the Ontario Superior Court bench; one on the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal; and 39 unified family court positions. One Federal Court position will be added, and one Federal Court position will become an Associate Chief Justice of the Federal Court.

In addition to legal aid funds for asylum-seekers, another $25.4 million will go to legal aid funding over five years, targeted to victims of sexual harassment.

The CBA has also pointed out the need for money to be spent on modernizing the Courts Administration Services of the Federal Courts. The 2018 budget includes $41.9 million over five years, and $9.3 million per year ongoing, to “support judicial and registry servers and will better enable the federal courts to address their growing and increasingly complex caseload.”

Other areas where the CBA has a record of advocacy that received funding in this year’s budget were:

  • Official languages -- $10 million over five years with $2 million a year ongoing in funding for the Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Support Fund
  • Mental health -- $20.4 million over five years, with $5.6 million a year ongoing, to support the mental health needs of federal inmates, largely targeted to female convicts
  • Charities -- The government has committed to responding to the recommendations from its panel studying the issue of political activity by charities in the coming months
  • Pay equity – The government promises pay equity will be included in budget implementation legislation.
  • Trade tribunal – Division 8 of Part 6 amends the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act to create create the position of Vice-chairperson of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal; allow former permanent members to be re-appointed for a further term, and clarify the rules around replacing the Chair of the Tribunal as well as providing for the interim replacement of the vice-chair.
  • Remediation – The Criminal Code will be amended to establish a regime that will allow prosecutors to negotiate a remediation agreement with organizations alleged to have committed an offence. Proceedings related to the offence will be stayed if the organization complies with the terms of the agreement.
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