Category Archives: Canadian refugees

New Safeguards Drastically Reduce Canadian Asylum Claims from High-Fraud Regions

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New rules put into effect by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) in December have led to a significant reduction in asylum claims being made in Canada

Canada, which was facing one of the worst bogus refugee claims problems in the world, and seeing government expenditure on welfare for asylum claimants gradually increase as a result, has seen a drastic reduction of asylum claims from problem countries in the aftermath of instituting new laws on how asylum claims are processed.

Changes that came into effect on December 15th 2012 require claims to be processed quickly – within 30 to 45 days for individuals from countries considered democratic and observant of human rights – and prevent claimants from delaying a deportation through years of appeals.

The number of claims from Hungary, the country that led the world in producing Canadian asylum claimants, and from which the vast majority of claims are rejected by the Immigration and Refugee Board or abandoned by the claimant before their hearing, declined from 353 in the January 1st to February 19th period of 2012, to 7 in the same period of 2013.

Totally, asylum claims have declined by 70 percent, while claims from countries designated as safe have declined by 86 percent.

The primary reason for the drop in claims is likely that the new rules have eliminated the incentive to file a bogus asylum claim by making it impossible to take advantage of the years of welfare and other free social services it could previously provide.

The new rules are expected to save tax payers $400 million a year.

Eight More Countries Considered “Safe” By Canada’s Refugee System

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A refugee camp in Africa. The Canadian government resettles over 10 percent of the refugees settled annually worldwide (Citizenship and Immigration Canada)

As part of an effort to reduce the number of bogus asylum claims made in Canada, the federal government has added eight countries to its list of designated countries of origin, which are those it considers as having strong protection of human rights, and from which genuine refugees are unlikely to originate.

Asylum claimants from the now 35 designated countries of origin will still be able to file a claim with the Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), but they will receive a hearing within an expedited 30-45 day period, instead of the 60 days that individuals from non-designated countries will wait.

Individuals from designated countries of origin will also not have the recently created, quasi-judicial, Refugee Appeals Division (RAD) available to them, although they will still be able to appeal their decision in federal court.

The removal of access to the RAD from those originating from safe countries is intended to alleviate a major problem of those whose claims are rejected delaying their removal from the country through appeals, allowing them to stay in Canada for years, and collect thousands of dollars in social assistance, until they have finally exhausted the appeals process.

The eight countries categorized as designated countries of origin are:

  • Mexico
  • Israel (excluding Gaza and the West Bank)
  • Japan
  • Norway
  • Iceland
  • New Zealand
  • Australia
  • Switzerland

The introduction of expedited processing of asylum claims from designated countries puts Canada in the company of a number of other countries who withhold full access to their refugee system from claimants originating from countries deemed ‘safe’, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium and Finland.

Canadian Government Considering Electronic Bracelets For Refugee Claimants

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CBSA and RCMP officers in Vancouver, Canada. The Standing Committee on Public Safety was told by a CBSA director that 80 percent of the 44,000 outstanding arrest warrants in Canada are for individuals who have had their refugee claim rejected and are evading deportation (2010 Legal Observers)

The federal government is considering requiring asylum seekers who are in Canada and awaiting a decision by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) on their refugee claim to wear electronic tracking bracelets as a condition of being released from detention.

On Tuesday, parliament was presented with the findings of a study conducted by the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security to determine the effectiveness, cost efficiency, and feasibility of electronic supervision in the correctional and immigration setting.

The study recommended further consideration of the extra security measure for asylum seekers in part due to testimony it received from a senior official at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

The Director General of the CBSA’s Post-Border Programs, Peter Hill, noted that a staggering 80 percent of the approximately 44,000 outstanding arrest warrants in Canada are for asylum seekers who had their refugee claim rejected and did not appear at their deportation hearing to comply with their removal order.

Hill testified that he believed electronic monitoring would be effective in improving enforcement of removal orders based on positive results the CBSA has had in the limited number of cases where it has used it, and proposed more analysis be done as a preliminary step to broader application of the supervision tool.

The Committee on Public Safety was persuaded by the testimony of Hill and other witnesses and recommended in its report that the CBSA review the cost-effectiveness of electronic monitoring.

Health Workers Associations Lobby against Cuts to Refugee Health Care

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Cuts to health care for refugees are hoped to reduce the growth in health care expenditures in Canada

Health workers groups held several rallies across Canadian cities yesterday to protest government cuts to health care programs for refugees.

As part of its deficit reduction program, the federal government is cutting medical services provided at no cost to refugees through the Interim Federal Health Program, limiting free services to emergency health care and treatment of chronic conditions that pose a public health threat, like tuberculosis. The government expects the move will save it $100 million over five years.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has also indicated that the move was motivated by complaints that refugees receive free dental and eye care from the federal government that Canadian citizens do not.

“Canadians have been telling us they don’t think that smuggled migrants and bogus asylum claimants should be getting better health-care benefits than Canadian seniors and taxpayers. They won’t be getting extras that Canadians don’t get, like dental, eye care, and discretionary pharmaceuticals,” Kenney said in April.

Health workers associations, including the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Nursing Association and the Canadian Pharmacists Association, whose members stand to lose tens of millions of dollars in health care work due to the cuts, wrote an open letter to the federal government in May criticizing the cuts.

In the letter they argued that the cuts would shift the cost of treating refugees to other groups like provincial governments, result in complications and higher costs in the future due to refugees not getting early treatment for medical problems, increase the load on emergency departments, and lead to an increase in public health threats from contagious diseases like tuberculosis.

Can. Immigration Minister Proposes New Bill to Toughen Canadian Refugee Admittance

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Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has proposed a new bill ”Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act”, that would toughen rules for asylum seekers coming to Canada.

The new bill would reduce the time taken to assess a standard refugee application from 1000 to 45 days. This would reduce the incidence of immigration authorities being unsuccessful in deporting asylum seekers applying under false pretences, due to the long duration of their time in Canada.

As the National Post writes, the longer the application process for an asylum seeker to Canada is, the less likelihood there is they will be deported:

Reducing the time it takes federal officials to examine claims for asylum is critical. The longer an applicant gets to remain in Canada before a decision is made, the less likely bogus applicants are to be expelled. People who stay here three or more years waiting for their cases to be adjudicated put down roots. They establish homes, have children, develop friendships and forge connections in the community. Then, if their applications are rejected, they plead that it is unfair to expel such a well-established new Canadian.

The new bill would also make biometric readings for foreigners getting Canadian visas mandatory, and introduce more powers to deal with human smuggling.