A senior manager stated the immigration department is keeping a 2015 Conservative "barbaric practices" law, sponsored by then-Minister Chris Alexander, targeting polygamy and forced marriage in immigrant communities, to investigate if the practices are occurring.

Tara Lang, Director General of the Department of Immigration, testified at the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee, stating, "We want to study it to find out if this is actually happening." The law had been scheduled for repeal.

Director General Lang testified that the Act's repeal was delayed for at least a year while they find, review, analyze, and discuss the data, as reported by Blacklock’s.

.@CitImmCanada keeps Barbaric Practices Act "to find out if this is happening" in immigrant communities, says dep’t exec Tara Lang; @CAlxandr passed the contentious law 10 yrs ago: "This brings back memories."  https://t.co/nGXw8xpLjh #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/rEhAH81S4u

— Blacklock's Reporter (@mindingottawa) November 24, 2025

A decade ago, Parliament passed Bill S-7, the Zero Tolerance For Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, banning polygamous immigrants from Canada and setting the minimum age of marriage at 16, though polygamy was already illegal in Canada since 1890.

In a 2014 Commons debate on the bill, Minister Alexander noted that while polygamy is illegal in Canada, it is permitted elsewhere. He stressed the need to strengthen the immigration system to prevent any facilitation of the practice and “ensure this Canadian value is respected.”

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A 2024 Leger survey indicates a growing number of Canadians are concerned about newcomer integration, with 25% believing immigrants should abandon their customs upon arrival.

A Somali woman, previously deported for five years for using false identities to hide a polygamous marriage during her refugee application, has reportedly been granted another chance to stay in Canada.

Fadumo Yusuf Mohamed Abdille came to Canada in 2012, was granted refugee status, but this was revoked in 2023 by a Toronto Federal Court decision due to misrepresentation on her claim.

Canadians are worried by refusal of newcomers to integrate, says poll

One quarter (25%) of Canadians believe newcomers should give up their customs and traditions upon arrival.https://t.co/7Li9ohBjPi

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) November 15, 2024

Director General Lang stated the immigration department wishes to keep the Act in force currently. She testified, "We have good pre-pandemic data on when and how people were found inadmissible for polygamy," but added, "Post-pandemic, with different influxes and backlogs, we haven’t been able to capture a good one-to-one comparison."

Senator Julie Miville-Dechene noted Bill S-7's contentious nature, saying, "This brings back memories."

Seventeen days before the 2015 general election, Minister Alexander pledged a police tip line for "barbaric cultural practices." Alexander later attributed his 12,084-vote defeat in Ajax, Ont. to the resulting public outcry.

Kellie Leitch, then-Minister of Status of Women, endorsed the Act and hotline but said she faced "the worst types of threats online" during the 2015 campaign. In her 2019 farewell address, she remarked, "Politics is a rough sport."

“My home was broken into. My constituency office was compromised with hate banners. My staff was intimidated,” said Leitch.

True North’s Andrew Lawton caught up with Kmiec at the Canada Strong and Free Conference in Ottawa to discuss the Conservatives’ plan to address the immigration system. pic.twitter.com/jotRsNfjI8

— Juno News (@junonewscom) April 14, 2024

Former Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, now Alberta NDP leader, stated in 2023 Senate testimony that the 2015 Barbaric Cultural Practices Act and niqab bans were not Islamophobic but politically motivated to target Muslims. This comes as a 2023 Angus Reid study found roughly 40% of Canadians hold an unfavourable view of Islam.

On April 13, 2024, then-Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec refused to commit to an immigration values test, stating he didn't want his government "determining which values it supports and which it doesn’t,” citing the Liberal government's post-2015 approach.

“I believe things like health care, housing, [and] jobs [are] all [things] Canadians can get behind,” he said regarding the immigration file. “There’s no subjectivity to them, you either have those services or you don’t.”