Absolutely. One of the objectives, as stated under IRPA, is to respect Canada's humanitarian and compassionate traditions. The minister has said that these amendments would not affect humanitarian and compassionate applications, and note that she adds “from inside the country”. But these legislative changes specifically target humanitarian and compassionate applications from outside the country. They specifically change the “shall” to “may” on examining humanitarian and compassionate applications from outside of the country.
On May 14th, 2008. See this statement in context.