Saturday November 17, 2018
Anna Mehler Paperny


A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer looks on as a woman carrying a child waits to cross the US-Canada border into Canada in Champlain, New York, U.S., February 14, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File Photo

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About 1,400 crossed the frontier in October, down from 1,600 the month before. But most refugee claimants enter the country by other means, and their numbers are growing.

"There are 65 million refugees in the world, and there are many desperate people trying to find safety and refuge in western countries,” said Toronto-based lawyer Lorne Waldman. "I think we’re going to see 50,000-plus (refugee claims annually) for the foreseeable future.”

A spokesman for Immigration and Refugees Minister Ahmed Hussen noted that this year’s budget included an additional C$74 million ($56 million) for the Immigration and Refugee Board "to speed up the processing of asylum claims.” The hiring of 248 new staff "is under way,” spokesman Mathieu Genest wrote in an email.

About 56 percent of refugee claims finalized in the first three quarters of 2018 were accepted, according to the Immigration and Refugee Board, with lower acceptance rates for border-crossers.

Border-crossers from Nigeria and Haiti, who made up the largest groups of border-crossers, had relatively low acceptance rates compared with other nationalities, at 29.3 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively.

Canada’s government is trying to hasten the deportations of border-crossers whose refugee claims are not successful, classifying them with criminals as a top deportation priority.

The government should also prioritize integration of successful applicants, said Canadian Council for Refugees head Janet Dench, and ensure that tens of thousands of people are not left waiting years for permanent resident status.

"The longer you keep people in this limbo state, the longer before they can contribute fully to Canadian society.”

Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Editing by Tom Brown