Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Lena Metlege Diab in Ottawa on Feb. 3.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Refugee advocates are worried about proposed changes in the federal government’s immigration and border bill. They fear that restricting access to asylum hearings for foreign nationals who have been in Canada for more than a year will put genuine refugees in danger.
Canada’s commitment to helping refugees is important, and this country needs to continue its tradition of helping those at risk. However, the proposed change in Bill C-12 to limit refugee claims from people already in the country is a sensible measure to prevent abuse of the system.
Traditionally, Canada has been generous to refugee claimants, and numbers were kept in check by strict visa measures. But Canada is facing a different situation today. After years of loose visa policies, more than 2.3 million people are in the country on temporary work or study permits.
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With a reduction in work permits and many pathways for permanent residency closing, it’s not political fear mongering to suggest that some who don’t want to leave are making asylum claims to extend their stay. Even if a claim is ultimately rejected, it buys time – the current wait is 17 months – for the people to explore other avenues to remain in the country.
Canada must not abandon its values, but we cannot be naive about how we manage our immigration system.
Bill C-12, which is currently being studied by the Senate, would fast-track refugee claimants for deportation if they had been in Canada more than a year, and they would no longer be eligible for an asylum hearing at the Immigration and Refugee Board. Instead, claimants would be eligible for a pre-removal risk assessment from an immigration official. If the assessment determines they would face risk of persecution, torture or threats to their life, they could stay.
While a hearing at the Immigration and Refugee Board – a formal procedure that entitles the claimant to have an interpreter, invite witnesses and includes the right to appeal or challenge the decision in the federal court – wouldn’t happen, a less formal meeting could still take place with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada officials if they need more information.
Advocates have warned that, for example, LGBTQ people who enter Canada on work or study permits may stay silent about risks at home when they are settling into the country, and miss their window to file a refugee claim. However, the pre-removal risk assessment should prevent them from being returned to a dangerous situation.
If executed correctly, this measure would make it faster for genuine refugees to get approved, while quickly dealing with claims that lack legitimacy. It would also help reduce the growth of the backlog of claims, currently at 300,000, by discouraging false applications.
Refugee advocates have said the idea that students here for more than a year are more likely to submit fraudulent claims is unfounded. However, the government shouldn’t wait until problems mount to fix vulnerabilities in the system, especially given that Immigration Ministry staff say the measures are needed to ward off future misuse.
There are trends that justify pre-emptive action. In 2024, international students filed a record 20,245 asylum claims, six times more than in 2019. In 2024 alone, 720 claims came from students at Conestoga College, which had a massive surge in international enrolment. Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab said that last year, 17 per cent of asylum claims came from students.
Many students who are claiming refugee status are from India, which is also the home of the largest number of international students. There are certainly groups of people at risk from India – about half of refugee claims regarding India were accepted between 2018 and 2024 – but it’s not a country generally considered to be a huge source of refugees. There were just 375 refugee claims from Indian citizens in 2015, compared with 17,180 last year.
The federal government needs to make sure it can quickly identify legitimate refugees, while at the same time, reduce abuses, such as the recent instance where 14 temporary residents suspected of extortion claimed refugee status to avoid deportation.
Canada must maintain its status as a safe haven for people facing persecution, and the best way to do that is by carefully managing the immigration system. Streamlining the process for refugee claimants already in Canada is a good step to maintaining the public trust needed to help the world’s most vulnerable.