Asking for asylum is an obstacle course. You have to leave your country of origin, manage to enter Canada, learn to live there and begin very long procedures in a complicated bureaucratic system. In the majority of cases, however, this fight is crowned with success.
Published at 5:00 a.m.
Where do they come from?
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, ARCHIVES SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Montreal-Trudeau Airport
In 2024, in Canada, the top five countries for asylum seekers were India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Mexico.
These people arrive here mainly by plane. “People are not necessarily going to ask for refugee status at the airport,” explains Stéphanie Valois, co-president of the Quebec Association of Immigration Lawyers. “They think the authorities can put them back on the plane. So, they come back and after that, we apply for asylum. »
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Migrants of Haitian origin are waited by police officers as they irregularly cross the Canadian-American border via Roxham Road, in October 2022.
Requests at the land border have been much lower since the “closure” of Roxham Road. From 46,000 in 2022, at the golden age of this transition, they fell to 12,000 for the first nine months of the year 2024.
What has changed in 2023?
The tightening of the Safe Third Country Agreement. The new version, in force since March 2023, requires asylum seekers to present themselves at a border post. If a migrant arrives in Canada from the United States, they will generally be sent back to the United States to apply for asylum.
There are some exceptions, notably for unaccompanied minors and those who have family in Canada.
There is another: migrants who cross the border illegally without being intercepted can apply for asylum in Canada after 14 days.
How does the reception system work?
First, the asylum seeker must contact Canadian authorities, who will determine whether he meets certain criteria so that his application can be examined by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). ).
The IRB is the organization responsible for granting refugee status in Canada. It is made up of four sections:
- the Refugee Protection Section (RPD)
- the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD)
- the Immigration Section (SI)
- the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD)
The RPD is the one that rules on asylum applications.
If the decision is favorable, the asylum seeker obtains refugee status and can apply for permanent residence.
If his application is rejected, he can try to stay in Canada through one of the following five remedies: apply for a temporary residence permit, appeal the decision, submit an application for authorization and judicial review, request a review Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) or apply for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
Note: approximately 21% of asylum applications referred to the IRB last year were withdrawn or abandoned.
What are the processing times?
They are very, very long: the expected waiting time for new asylum applications is 42 months in Quebec, and 25 months in the other provinces.
Check processing times
Normally, migrants seeking asylum are questioned at their point of entry to determine whether they have reason to fear persecution in their home country. People whose claim is not deemed credible can be quickly deported.
Several countries also have waiting areas or administrative detention centers for certain applicants awaiting a decision or expulsion. Canada does not have such mechanisms.
When a person has to wait two or three years, living here, it is unacceptable to think about sending them home, even more so if a child is born during that time, and if the person has a stable job.
François Audet, director of the Canadian Observatory on Humanitarian Crises and Action at UQAM
How many decisions are rendered per year?
The IRB processes approximately 60,000 files per year. But asylum applications are arriving in much greater numbers: 143,360 in 2023, probably more in 2024. Not to mention a backlog of 260,000 files. The number of pending cases has doubled in one year.
While awaiting a decision, asylum seekers are entitled to a host of services: temporary accommodation, social assistance, help finding accommodation, legal aid, access to health, French courses, daycare for children in primary and secondary schools.
