Speedier failed-refugee removals urged

OTTAWA — The Canada Border Services Agency should speed up its removals of failed refugee claimants who are still in Canada, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Wednesday.

The CBSA has set a new target of completing 10,000 removals by the end of the 2018-19 fiscal year in March. This would mean an increase of 35 per cent from what has been normal over the last two years.

Goodale said Wednesday that the CBSA has been given $7.46 million more to ensure that all asylum seekers who have exhausted their legal avenues of appeal are removed from the country.

“We’ve indicated that we have to pick up the pace in terms of that activity. We’ve provided some extra resources for CBSA to do the work that’s necessary,” Goodale said.

Jean-Pierre Fortin, national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, said the special inland enforcement officers who handle these removals were not told of the plan to set targets and speed up, let alone consulted.

By law, CBSA is required to enforce removal orders as soon as possible after all avenues of appeal have been exhausted.

However, many factors can impede a removal, such as other legal proceedings, temporary suspensions of removals in certain categories, missing travel documents, medical issues or applications for pre-removal risk assessments for those who are eligible.