Critics slam ‘safe’ list for refugees
The federal government has unveiled a preliminary list of 27 countries Canada believes are unlikely producers of legitimate asylum claimants, touching off a wave of criticism from refugee advocates who say the new rules set to take effect Saturday are arbitrary, unfair, dangerous and illegal.
“These changes are essential to protect the integrity of Canada’s immigration system and to enhance our proud tradition of refugee protection,” Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Friday.
“As a result of these changes, we expect the number of unfounded claimants abusing Canada’s generosity to continue to decline, meaning we can provide faster protection to real refugees and devote more resources to the resettlement of refugees waiting around the world in UN camps.”
The list includes 25 European Union countries, among them the Czech Republic, which was slapped with a visa in 2009. The country has vowed not to ratify the European Union free trade deal still in the works if Canada doesn’t remove the hindrance and some critics have argued the list is more about visas and trade deals than refugees.
That said, Kenney did not immediately remove the visa requirement for the Czech Republic.
“I don’t foresee any immediate changes in visa policy,” he said.
“This is not a quid pro quo, but if we can — in part through these asylum reforms — reduce the number of unfounded claims coming from particular countries then we could have greater confidence in providing those countries with visa exemptions.”
Lorne Waldman of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers said Friday that the 30-day time frame for a hearing also isn’t long enough to allow claimants to find a lawyer and make their case. He agreed it’s unfair that the minister himself gets to create the list and suggested it violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as it robs claimants of “procedural protections.”
Amnesty International and the Canadian Council for Refugees added in a joint statement that the list also violates the UN Refugee Convention as denying a right to appeal is an issue of access to justice. Furthermore, it doesn’t diminish the fact that some countries labelled as “safe” are in fact not for some people.