Climate Migration: The Canadian Response
Published:
September 23, 2022
Author(s):
Climate migrants aren’t yet arriving on Canadian shores en masse – but the growing number of extreme weather events in Canada and around the world suggest it’s inevitable. What are Canada’s international law obligations to climate migrants? Do Canadian immigration laws adequately respond to the possibility of climate migrants arriving on our shores? What are the implications of increased climate-induced mobility for Canadian employers?
The International Law Obligations to Climate Migrants
In early 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international scientific body consisting of hundreds of internationally renowned climate experts, released Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, a report on the impacts of climate change on ecosystems, including on human society. Among its many disturbing findings is the IPCC’s repeated emphasis on the negative impacts of climate change on humanitarian crises, and particularly its exacerbation of displacement trends as humans and their communities react to extreme weather and climatic events. Whether communities are vulnerable to displacement depends on many factors. However, the general expert consensus is that low-lying Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and atolls facing sea level rise and are characterized by informal settlements, rural areas, and mountainous regions are at particular risk in the medium to long-term.
Recent assessments of the impacts of climate change on human migration trends predict there won’t be mass movements across international borders in the short-term. And according to the World Bank’s 2021 Groundswell report, the majority of those currently moving due to environmental factors are internally displaced only temporarily. But the signs point to a looming change, suggesting it’s only a matter of time until the global community, including Canada, faces this inevitability.
New Zealand, for instance, has already seen a case involving an individual, Ioane Teitiota, seeking asylum on the basis of the impacts of climate change in his home country of Kiribati. Teitiota appealed the decision of New Zealand’s Supreme Court to the UN Human Rights Committee on the basis of violations of his right to life under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee’s decision clarified that the non-refoulement obligations of States (the principle of non-refoulement guarantees that no one should be returned to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm) in the context of climate change. The Committee concluded that, “without robust national and international efforts, the effects of climate change in receiving states [of deported would-be asylum seekers] may expose individuals to a violation of their rights under [the ICCPR], thereby triggering the non-refoulement obligations of sending states.”
The Responsiveness of Canadian Immigration Law
It’s essential that Canada prepare for the inevitable influx of climate change migrants, raising the question of whether Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and its Regulations (IRPR) adequately respond.
Section 25.2 of the IRPA allows the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to grant permanent resident status and/or an exemption from any criteria or obligations of the IRPA if the Minister believes it’s justified by public policy considerations. The Minister can deploy this tool to respond to emergency situations like a sudden-onset environmental disaster; for example, the Minister used it during the 2010 Haitian earthquake.
However, the definition of “refugee” under the IRPA only covers situations related to political persecution, as limited by the 1951 Refugee Convention, restricting its application to a particular legal category. As a result, a would-be climate migrant or climate-displaced person only qualifies as a “refugee” in Canada if other drivers of displacement interact with climate change. For example, it could apply if a drought were to lead to violent conflict over access to water in a given region and the refugee applicant were a target of violence.
Finally, Canada has not (yet) established a designated immigration pathway for those fleeing the impacts of climate change in their countries of origin. Canada is positioned to address sudden-onset climate disasters through such mechanisms as Section 25.2 of the IRPA. But at present, those facing the prospect of long-term environmental degradation are better served by using current Canadian immigration pathways, such as economic immigration through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) or through the Atlantic Immigration Program.
The Implications of Increased Climate-Induced Mobility for Canadian Employers
As Canada’s own experience with wildfires on the West Coast and permafrost melt in the Canadian Arctic illustrates, climate change is forcing even Canadians to grapple with more extreme weather events and their consequences on those affected. And although climate migrants might not be arriving en masse in Canada in the immediate future, it’s likely that Canada can anticipate an increase in the number of immigrants who have experienced trauma as a result of climatic events in the coming years.
Most agree that it’s critical the federal government both act to reduce the pace and effect of global climate change, and ensure Canadian immigration law is prepared to respond to increased climate-induced mobility. However, it’s equally critical that Canadian employers both act to address the root causes of climate change by engaging in ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) principles and investing in more sustainable business practices, and prepare for employees who have experienced trauma and climate anxiety by investing in mental health tools.
Please contact your McInnes Cooper lawyer or any member of our Business Immigration Team @ McInnes Cooper to discuss how your business can prepare for and respond to climate change migration.
McInnes Cooper has prepared this document for information only; it is not intended to be legal advice. You should consult McInnes Cooper about your unique circumstances before acting on this information. McInnes Cooper excludes all liability for anything contained in this document and any use you make of it.
© McInnes Cooper, 2022. All rights reserved. McInnes Cooper owns the copyright in this document. You may reproduce and distribute this document in its entirety as long as you do not alter the form or the content and you give McInnes Cooper credit for it. You must obtain McInnes Cooper’s consent for any other form of reproduction or distribution. Email us at [email protected] to request our consent.
