Ensuring Precariousness: The Status of Designated Foreign National under the Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act 2012

This article interrogates a specific legal response to the unauthorised arrival by sea of asylum seekers to Canada. It focuses in particular on the treatment of such individuals after they have been recognised as refugees under the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention). It is a critical analysis of the introduction of the Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act (PCISA) in Canada, which amends the Immigration Refugee Protection Act. The article focuses on the establishment of the new legal status of Designated Foreign National (DFN) under the PCISA. In the article, it is argued that this response has resulted in the creation of legal standards that undermine the rights guaranteed to recognised refugees in the Refugee Convention. The establishment of the DFN status also represents the creation of a legal space where those so designated are confronted by restrictions established as a response to the arrival of asylum seekers in the state by sea. This article examines how the creation of the DFN status has shifted the approach to the regulation of space in Canada. Drawing on critical legal studies, as well as critical legal geography, this article focuses on the interrelationship between legal knowledges, and the control of space as it relates to the DFN. Finally, the article examines how it may be possible for DFNs to oppose the creation of a two-tier system of refugee protection under the PCISA by asserting their rights under section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms