Fewer border crossers granted refugee status

OTTAWA — Fewer asylum seekers who entered Canada illegally this year are being granted refugee status.

As of the end of November, the Immigration and Refugee Board says 16,522 asylum claims were received from people who had crossed the border illegally and 2,198 of those had been completed. Of those finalized cases, updated data show 54 per cent were accepted — down from 60 per cent when the board last reported the data. Only eight per cent of Haitians — who make up the majority of claims — have been accepted, down from 10 per cent.

More than 43,000 claims in total have been sent to the board so far this year, a number not seen since a high of 44,000 claims in 2001.

The board cautions it’s premature to draw conclusions about border crossers based on the small number of claims finalized so far. Failed claimants also have the right to appeal.

But just as the board was releasing the new statistics, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen used social media to repeat a point the Liberals have been increasingly making in recent weeks as the data has shown many border crossers’ claims are being rejected. “Canada’s refugee system isn’t for those seeking a better economic life. It provides protection to refugees who have a well-founded fear of persecution,” Hussen posted.

Prior to a surge in asylum seekers arriving in Canada last summer, the approval rate for Haitians had been about 50 per cent and the approval rate for all refugee claims was about 63 per cent.

The border-crosser situation is driven by an agreement between Canada and the U.S. that prohibits anyone crossing the border at official land entry points from claiming asylum.

So far this year, 18,000 have been stopped entering Canada illegally — in 2016, only 2,500 people were apprehended. Many are believed to be coming north due to changes in U.S. immigration policy, though the federal government has said some haven’t spent much time in the U.S. and were just using that country as an entry point into Canada.

The board’s operations are being reviewed by the federal government with final recommendations on what could change due later in 2018.