OTTAWA – The Harper government is moving to deter “bogus” refugees, largely European, from seeking protection in Canada by reviving measures that died in Parliament during its minority rule.
“To be blunt, Canada’s asylum system is broken,” said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney in announcing Bill C-31 on Thursday.
The proposed law unfurls the compromises the Conservatives, then a minority government, reached with opposition parties. Backed by all parties and set to come into force in June, Bill C-11 was passed to crackdown on “bogus” refugee claims.
While he praised the law when passed, Kenney now says it left gaps that need to be addressed by new legislation.
The move has incensed the New Democrats, who said they worked with the government in good faith.
“(Bill C-11) seriously tightened up the timelines and the process for making quick determinations on refugee claims,” said NDP immigration critic Don Davies. “How (Kenney) says that system didn’t work when it was never put into place is beyond me.”
The new and controversial proposal would allow the minister to designate some countries as “safe” based on criteria including perceived human rights records and democratic freedoms.
Refugee claimants from such countries would be fast-tracked through the system within 45 days and would be barred from a new appeal process. They can ask the Federal Court of Canada to review the Immigration and Refugee Board’s decision, but can be removed from Canada in the meantime.
Currently it takes an average of 4.5 years for a failed refugee claimant to be removed from Canada due to the lengthy appeals process.
By removing the backlog from so-called safe countries, the government says claimants from unsafe countries would also have their claims heard faster.
Backlog fueled by European claimants: government
The move is expected to address a growing number of claimants from the European Union, ninety-five per cent of which are rejected, withdrawn or abandoned at a cost of $170 million each year.
“Too many Canadian tax dollars are spent on people who do not need our protection,” said Kenney.
Kenney zeroed in on a recent spike in claims from the Roma population in Hungary, from which Canada received 4,900 claims in 2009-2010. Over 90 per cent of them are voluntarily dropped, but the community insists it is not because they are bogus.
“They didn’t realize they need in fact evidence of persecution. They need to have medical reports, they need to have police reports,” said Gina Csanyi-Robah of the Roma Community Centre in Toronto.
The systemic discrimination in Hungary makes these documents almost impossible to get even in Hungary, Csayni-Robah said.
Peter Showler, a University of Ottawa law professor and former chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board said safe country designations can work but only with the right checks and balances.
“It is possible to say that some countries are safer than others but what is important to remember is that virtually all of these countries that are refugee-source countries at all are not safe for some people,” he said.
New bill removes checks and balances: critics
When Bill C-11 was introduced in 2010, those checks and balances were in place, but that has been thrown out the window, according to Showler.
Originally, the minister has to consult with independent human rights experts to determine whether a country could be called a designated country of origin.
Now it’s the minister who gets to decide which country is safe, a move critics say politicizes the process.
“It allows the Minister not only to handpick countries that he thinks legitimate refugees can’t come from but it also further allows the minister to handpick those claimants that he believes shouldn’t have a right of appeal either,” Davies said.
The other compromises have left a system that is too fast and offers no second chances for some, according to Showler.
“They only have 30 days to prove their claim. I cannot emphasize how hard it is to do that in 30 days,” he said.
The proposed legislation also revives the government’s highly contentious human smuggling legislation by introducing mandatory minimums for human smugglers.
The Conservative bill would give the Minister of Public Safety the discretion to deem mass arrivals “irregular.” Once given this title, refugee claimants coming to Canada this way can be held in mandatory detention for up to a year and would face a five-year delay in getting permanent resident status and sponsoring their families.
Aviva Basman, who sits on the executive of the Canadian Association of Refugee Laywers, said the measures simply won’t work because refugees are desperate to flee their countries.
“What we have is a government who is proposing extremely harsh laws with the goal of scaring refugees away from coming to Canada and in fact we haven’t seen that borne out in other countries that have used similar measures.”
A final measure introduced in the bill would give Canada the legal authority to collect biometric data such as fingerprints and photographs from temporary resident visa applicants.
Kenney said he would like to see the bill passed by the end of June and implemented by fall.
Refugee claims by the numbers
Number of refugees resettled from aboard in 2011: 12,900
Number of refugees to be resettled by 2013: 14,500
Number of asylum claims received in 2011: 23,500
Number of claims in backlog: 42,000
Average wait for an IRB decision: 19 months
Average wait to be removed from Canada after rejected: 4.5 years
Number of Hungarian refugee claimants in 2009-2010: 4,900
Processing timelines under Bill C-31:
- 45 days for those from designated safe countries
- 216 days for those from non-safe countries
Processing timelines under Bill C-11:
- 171 days for those from designated safe countries
- 291 days for those from non-safe countries
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