Rating:

Not Rated

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

M/M

Fandoms:

Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid, Heated Rivalry (TV)

Relationship:

Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov

Additional Tags:

Politics, Canada, Canadian Politics, yes this fic is basically just me hating on bill C-12

Language:

English

Stats:

Published: 2026-02-05 Words: 806 Chapters: 1/1

an erosion

Summary

“I won't be able to apply for Canadian asylum anymore,” Ilya says, voice firmly neutral.

Notes

This fic is looking at a very small snapshot of Canadian politics, with respect to Bill C-12 which is currently (or was yesterday? I can't find the outcome of it. I was trying to get this finished sooner) in Canada's senate (Feb 5, 2026). It passed in the House of Commons at the end of 2025, and bills rarely get stopped at the senate that make it through the house, but I'll link to resources/who to email at the end of the fic. Of course, this bill is more widely connected to politics both within Canada and outside of Canada. While that isn't the focus of this ficlet, please know I am aware of the wider context and erosion of immigrant rights globally. In addition, I am from so called canada but a lot of my knowledge of legalities of immigration to canada is just from googling and my knowledge of Bill C-12 is largely from ig posts. Please correct any glaring mistakes if anyone is more knowledgeable than me about this and do your own research if interested in this topic. There's a lot more to it than what I'm showing in 800 words through the lens of hollandov.

Also, I fudged the timelines a little bit to make it work with the timeline of this bill. From my understanding, I think Ilya would have been able to apply for permanent residency earlier than 2026 if he wanted to.

Un-beta'd and very written quickly, all mistakes are my own.

“I won't be able to apply for Canadian asylum anymore,” Ilya says, voice firmly neutral.

Shane looks up from the recap of yesterday's Admirals-Voyageurs game he has open on his iPad in preparation for Ottawa's game against the Admirals tomorrow. It takes him a moment to return to the world outside hockey and parse what Ilya is saying. “What? Were you planning on—? But you're applying to be a permanent resident?”

Shane has become good at reading Ilya even when he isn’t being expressive, but he finds himself trying to sort through the look on his face as if he isn’t someone so known to him. Maybe it’s contemplation, or maybe it's sadness or anger in the tightness around his eyes and mouth.

“I am.”

Shane pushes his ipad away, some anxiety creeping up on him at how lost he is in this conversation, and how reticent Ilya is being.

“Are you worried they'll reject you? We've gone over everything with your lawyer. And anyway, I don't think there's anything to worry about hockey wise. Ottawa isn't letting you go anytime soon.”

Ilya flicks an impatient hand. “There's always risk with hockey. Could get bashed into the boards tomorrow and get permanent injury.”

“Don’t say that.”

Ilya sighs. “That's not the point anyway.”

“No, it's not,” Shane says firmly. “I'm sponsoring you for permanent residency and you have a job at the Irina Foundation with or without hockey. And it'll be with. No team is getting rid of you even with an injury. Which you don't have.”

“Shane,” Ilya says, resting a hand on Shane's thigh. His voice is different now, losing the neutral tone, no longer shielding his emotions from Shane. It turns softer, into the tone he uses when grounding Shane out of a spiral. Which he isn’t in after a two minute conversation. “We are all okay. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know that,” Shane says quickly, but he takes a breath that helps settle some of his irrational rising anxiety at even the thought of Ilya being sent back to a country that hates him. Being sent away from Shane. “What were you talking about then?”

Ilya tilts his phone towards Shane, showing him the title of an Article ‘New Canada Immigration Bill C-12 Set To Bring Stricter Rules’. “I know it should be okay. For me,” Ilya says, not looking at Shane. “But I'd always had this idea in the back of my mind, that if it wasn't, if something happened here or in Russia, there is always claiming for asylum. Canada has taken Russian queer asylum seekers before. It was a comfort.”

Shane takes the phone from Ilya carefully. He's heard bits about this bill, but if he's honest with himself, hockey and Ilya are the main focuses of his brain power, and leave little for the intricacies of Canadian politics. Or outside of Canada politics.

“It'll make it so if someone is in Canada for more than a year, they can't apply for asylum,” Ilya explains, turning back to Shane. “Even if something changes. Even if you're here and then something changes in home country. Plus other things that didn’t sound good, but I don't understand them great.”

“Oh,” Shane says. “That's…”

“Is stupid,” Ilya says, English grammar slipping more into what he calls ‘lazy English’ that he favours when he's upset or tired. “Anything could change. Russia is in war since I come to North America and is only hating gay people more. But is not just me. I'm fine. I have you and I have hockey. I am very…lots of good things in my life making it easier. I am fine. But other people. The person I was in 2011. Canada should be… It shouldn't be…”

Ilya trails off. It's rare that Shane hears Ilya say anything negative about his adoptive country, for all that Shane is very aware of the boundaries of Canada's supposed niceness. Shane fills in the gaps for Ilya.

“No,” Shane says, pressing his shoulder against Ilya’s. Ilya leans his weight against Shane in return. “Canada shouldn't make it harder for people to get to safety if they need it.”

Ilya looks back down at his phone, swiping it quickly and making the webpage scroll in a blur of words, before he clicks his phone off.

“I’m going to tweet about this,” Ilya announces. “All these websites say is hopeless basically, but all that means is I’m not making fucked up thing even worse.”

All the reasons Shane, or hockey players in general, don’t tend to mention politics present themselves to Shane in a tidy cons list, but he doesn’t say anything. He just squeezes Ilya’s hand, selfishly thankful that Ilya doesn’t need to worry about this in relation to himself. That Ilya will be getting permanent residency. Ilya isn’t leaving Canada.