Door closes for many refugees
Ottawa tightens rules for those coming from ‘safe’ countries
Asylum seekers from 23 countries would be presumed “unfounded refugees” and stripped of their appeal rights under changes to the refugee system that take effect in December.
Based on 2012 asylum data, these countries — including the Czech Republic, Hungary and Mexico — meet the criteria set out by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney on Friday to designate them as safe and capable of protecting their own nationals.
Under the new system, refugees from Kenney’s designated countries — to be revealed Dec. 15, when the changes take effect — will have their claims fast-tracked and heard within 30 to 45 days without access to the newly-established appeal mechanism and be booted out of Canada in a year.
They are also banned from working in Canada unless their claim has been in the system for more than 180 days and no decision has been made, and are ineligible for health care coverage, even for medical emergencies.
“Our system took so long to get around to removing false claimants, unfounded claimants who did not actually need our protection and in some cases, were seeking to abuse Canada’s generosity,” Kenney said Friday.
“We believe the new system . . . will substantially reduce the attractiveness of making unfounded claims and will therefore allow us to focus our resources more on the bona fide refugees who actually do need our protection.”
Refugee advocates warn that some of the countries that may be deemed safe have questionable human rights records and broadbrushing claimants by their country of origin risks overlooking the individual risks they face.
“It is flawed, unfair and discriminatory,” said Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada.
“In many countries that seem peaceful and safe, particular minority groups face serious problems of persecution, discrimination and violence.” JANET DENCH CANADIAN COUNCIL FOR REFUGEES
According to Kenney, countries will be put under review for designation if their combined rejection, withdrawal and abandonment rate of asylum claims exceeds 75 per cent or when their withdrawn and abandoned caseload goes over 60 per cent.
They must also log a minimum of 30 claims a year. However, a country is not automatically designated by meeting these thresholds. It will also be assessed by various federal government departments based on its democratic governance, human rights records, respect for freedoms and rule of law. The immigration minister has the final say as to which country is safe. “In many countries that seem peaceful and safe, particular minority groups face serious problems of persecution, discrimination and violence, often with the participation of state officials,” said Janet Dench of the Canadian Council for Refugees. “The elimination of proposed expert oversight mechanisms for designating countries, previously accepted by the government, renders Canada’s system of independent decision-making for refugees vulnerable to political, trade, military, diplomatic and other considerations.” In 2011, Canada accepted 38 per cent or 12,983 of the 34,257 asylum claims it processed, and rejected 47 per cent or 16,122 cases. While 5 per cent of the claimants disappeared and abandoned their cases, 10 per cent of them asked to have their claims withdrawn. Kenney estimated that a quarter of the new claims made after Dec.15 will be from designated safe countries.