CIMM – Federal Support for Asylum Seekers – November 29, 2022

Key Messages

The federal government provides support to asylum seekers directly in a number of ways; including temporary hotel accommodations, interim federal health benefits and legal aid.
The federal government also supports asylum seekers indirectly through funding to provinces:
- To support interim housing through the Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP) and integration, and
- Provides funding for other social services through the Canada Social Transfer, as well as the Canada-Quebec Accord.
The Government of Canada works with its municipal and provincial partners to help alleviate the pressures they are facing with respect to provcenter temporary housing, including for asylum seekers.

We remain committed to providing a fair asylum process to asylum seekers. We continue to work in close collaboration with the affected provinces to develop shared solutions in providing support to asylum claimants through the duration of their claims process.
Provinces are generally responsible for managing and delivering social services, including social assistance, education, housing, and legal aid, to asylum claimants while they await a decision from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) on their claim.

The Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP) has supported provinces and municipalities, on a cost-sharing basis, with the extraordinary expenses related to the rise in asylum seekers in the shelter systems. The program reimburses direct housing expenses such as shelters, hotel rooms or other interim housing arrangements, as well as indirect costs such as meals.
IHAP was renewed until March 31, 2023, to help provinces and municipalities address interim housing costs resulting from increased volumes of asylum claimants and continued high costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
An amount of $716M ($150M in 2018-2019, $324M in 2019-2020 and $242M in 2020-2021) was approved in order to compensate provinces and municipalities for costs related to the provision of temporary housing to asylum claimants.
To date, IHAP has paid out $551.62 million dollars, including $374M to Quebec and $163.6M to municipalities in Ontario.

The Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) bridges a gap in healthcare coverage for refugees and asylum claimants until they qualify for provincial or territorial insurance, as well as for other uniquely vulnerable foreign nationals, such as immigration detainees and victims of human trafficking, who are not otherwise eligible to receive publicly funded healthcare in Canada.
Funding is not provided directly to asylum claimants. The Program’s registered healthcare providers are reimbursed for services provided to asylum claimants by the Government of Canada, via a third-party claims administrator. 94,000 service providers are registered with the Program to ensure that IFHP beneficiaries are well supported and can access necessary medical care upon arrival in Canada
The Government of Canada provided additional funding for the IFHP in the amount of $738.9M over two years (2021-2022 to 2022-2023) to ensure that asylum claimants and protected persons continue to have access to temporary healthcare coverage to address their immediate and essential medical needs.
The IFHP plays an important role in minimizing the impact of asylum claimants’ health on provinces and territories by offsetting immediate medical expenses and lowering long-term costs on the healthcare system. Overall, the IFHP effectively shares with provincial and territorial governments the costs of supporting the growing number of asylum claimants in Canada

Administered by Justice Canada, the Legal Aid Program contributes to the delivery of legal aid services to asylum claimants, to assist with their claim, prepare and represent them at hearings before the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) and appeals in the asylum process.
This supports not only the asylum claimant, but also enables IRB decision makers in making timely and fair decisions.
Budget 2022 announced an additional $43.5M for this year, raising the total available to $55M for 2022-23, to the Minister of Justice for the legal aid program. Provincial funding allocations will be confirmed at a later date.

In addition to providing funding for housing, health services and legal aid through dedicated programs, the federal government also contributes to provincial service costs more generally through the Canada Social Transfer (CST).
This is provided on an equal per capita basis to the provinces in accordance with Statistic Canada’s annual population estimates. The population estimates include persons who are claiming refugee status and the family members living with them.
In 2022-23, the CST will provide $15.9 billion to provinces and territories. Of this total, Quebec will receive $3.6 billion.
The Canada Social Transfer supports three broad areas of social policy: post-secondary education, social assistance and social services, and programs for children.
The federal government also provides an annual grant to Quebec, set out under the Canada-Quebec Accord to support settlement, reception and integration services for permanent residents

The 2022-2023 Main Estimates include $173M for the IHAP to provide funding to provinces and, if necessary, to municipalities, to compensate for interim housing costs incurred in 2021 and 2022 as a result of increased asylum claimant volumes.
To date, the Department has issued IHAP payments totaling $551.62M to the following provinces and municipalities.

In fiscal year 2021-2022, 242,405 refugees and asylum claimants were eligible for the IFHP, which included 166,345 claimants.

IFHP Eligible Beneficiaries a Year
	FY 2016-17	FY 2017-18	FY 2018-19	FY 2019-20	FY 2020-21	FY 2021-22
Asylum Seekers	63,028	97,704	140,800	185,111	163,671	166,345

Source: IFHP Population Profile - PIU Statistics.