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The Conservative government in Ottawa is likely to encounter little resistance getting its new refugee reform legislation passed, given the positive reception the bill has received so far from media across Canada.
On a stopover in Montreal last week to promote the proposed new law, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney said the legislation to improve the country’s asylum system would deliver quicker decisions on asylum claims and provide faster protection to those in need.
Avoiding two tiers
“Canada’s asylum system is broken,” he said. “We must act to avoid a two-tier immigration system: one for immigrants who wait in line, often for years, to come to Canada, and another for those who use the asylum system, not for protection, but to try to get through the back door into Canada.
“This balanced reform would both increase support for refugees in need of protection and discourage many of the unfounded asylum claims that burden our system,” he added. “These changes would result in faster protection for those who need our help and quicker removals of those who do not.” It currently takes 19 months for claims to be heard by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB).
Beefing up CBSA
As for the detention and removal of those deemed to be trying to enter Canada illegally, Kenney told NPEN that additional resources are being added to the Canadian Border Services Agency. When asked if a wave of highly visible enforcement measures is to be expected, he said, “The plan is to add an additional 100 CBSA enforcement officers and that will increase the total number of removals of people who’ve been proven not to have a legitimate claim and it will be done more quickly.”
Kenney pointed out that the government is currently testing an assisted voluntary returns pilot program, which provides failed claimants with reintegration assistance of up to $2,000 and plane tickets to return to their country of origin. The program would initially be available for failed asylum seekers returning to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Starting in 2013, the program would begin to be available for individuals returning to all countries.
A speedier process
The proposed measures would shorten the currently lengthy IRB processing period, so that claimants would generally have a hearing at the IRB within 60 days. The government maintains that under the proposed changes all eligible asylum claimants would continue to get a fair hearing by the IRB based on their individual circumstances. Most claimants would also have access to a new appeal process.
However, more controversially, the new law would allow failed claimants to be removed within a year of a final IRB decision, compared with the current situation, where it generally takes the government more than four years to exhaust all recourses and remove a failed asylum claimant. The government maintains that quick removal of failed claimants would help to discourage individuals from using the asylum system to try to jump the immigration queue to enter Canada.
Legal obligations met
The Conservatives also maintain that the new measures would exceed Canada’s international and domestic legal obligations to asylum seekers and address key concerns raised by the Auditor General in a May 2008 report on managing the detention and removal of individuals. The Auditor General had said that delays in rendering final decisions on asylum claims had left the system open to abuse.
In another area of the legislation that has also drawn some controversy, the new measures would allow the government to designate safe countries of origin. They would include countries that do not normally produce refugees, have a robust human rights record and offer strong state protection. Although not yet finalized, the criteria for the designation of safe countries or origin would be described in the ministry’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.
Safe countries list
The government feels it is on solid ground with the safe countries measures, considering that many countries already use a safe country policy to accelerate asylum procedures for nationals from certain states. These countries include the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands. Most European Union states also have accelerated asylum procedures for nationals of other EU member states.
So far in Canada’s media, there have been few if any negative reactions to the proposed legislation. The editorial pages of the country’s major dailies have contained mostly praise for the Conservative government’s actions. A five-page document that Kenney’s ministry sent out as proof of the support it has received in newspapers across Canada is overwhelmingly positive. While the opposition Liberals have reacted to the proposals so far mostly with silence, the NDP maintains that prioritizing some countries as safe over others is potentially dangerous.