Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - July 2009
The Canadian Minister of Immigration says that it is time to fix the country’s much-ailing refugee system.
The comments were made this week by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, after his department’s controversial move to require visas from Mexican and Czech visitors. The move, intended to discourage ballooning illegitimate refugee claims, sparked outrage both in and beyond the borders.
“When we raise with our partners in foreign countries the issue of false asylum claims, or large flows like we’ve seen from Mexico and Czech Republic, they turn the discussion back on us and say ‘Your system is inviting this kind of abuse. And you need to fix your system,’” said Kenney.
The Minister did not go into detail regarding the possible solutions. However, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration is looking to reforms made by Britain in 2004, including “reducing layers of appeals” which would likely rile immigrant advocates and lawyers in Canada.
Other changes made by Britain include “fast-tracking” refugee claims from the world’s “safer” countries, as well as handing over first-round decision-making to visa officers, rather than tribunals.
“It’s not lost on economic migrants who want to jump the queue that we have a system that’s fairly easy to abuse,” added Kenney. “And where people can settle in Canada, sometimes for several years, with a mixture of a work permit and/or social benefits, and if they’re determined to, they can game our system and abuse our generosity.”
Source: The Globe and Mail
