One year after the government reformed Canada’s asylum system to provide faster and fairer protection to genuine refugees fleeing persecution, the results support the goals. Genuine refugees are getting the protection they need sooner. Failed asylum claimants with unfounded claims are being removed more quickly. And Canadian taxpayers’ generosity is no longer being abused.
The system is grounded in the Designated Country of Origin (DCO), or safe country, list. Claims from safe countries – countries that generally do not produce refugees, respect human rights and offer state protections – are processed on an accelerated basis.
Many developed democracies use a similar authority to accelerate asylum procedures for the nationals of countries not normally known to produce refugees. These states include the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium and Finland. Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has recognized that “there are indeed Safe Countries of Origin and there are indeed countries in which there is a presumption that refugee claims will probably be not as strong as in other countries.” He has also recognized the legitimacy of providing expedited processing for asylum claimants from those generally safe countries.
Asylum claimants from safe countries are processed more quickly, but the new system continues to ensure that all eligible claimants – regardless of their country of origin – have access to a full, fact-based hearing on the merits of their individual case before the independent and quasi-judicial Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB).
Under the new system, processing times for asylum claimants are significantly shorter than those before the new measures took effect. It now takes, on average, two months for the IRB to hear a claim. In contrast, claimants waited approximately 20 months before the reforms. With quicker hearings and decisions, genuine refugees are able to begin their lives in Canada much faster.
Removals from Canada of failed asylum claimants – those people who have been found not to be genuine refugees in need of protection – are also occurring much faster. Asylum claimants who receive a negative decision under the new system are removed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) approximately 23 days from the time the case is referred for removal (Footnote *). Faster processing claims times now means that it takes roughly four months from the time a claim is made until a failed asylum claimant is removed from Canada.Footnote * Under the old system, it took about 4.5 years to remove a failed claimant from Canada, often after a number of unsuccessful appeals.Footnote *
As part of the reforms, the Government of Canada introduced on June 29, 2012, the CBSA-led Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) pilot program in the Greater Toronto Area. This program complements the CBSA's general removals program by assisting eligible failed asylum claimants to voluntarily return to their home country – a cost-effective alternative to an enforced removal. Since its inception, the CBSA has assisted approximately 2,700 individuals to return to their home countries.
Since December 2012, the CBSA has successfully removed more than 10,000 failed asylum claimants, including those returned under the AVRR program, saving Canadian taxpayers money.
As a result of fewer new asylum claims, the IRB has made remarkable progress in reducing the backlog of pending claims, giving genuine refugees the protection and certainty they need and removing failed claimants from Canada. This in turn lowers the costs of taxpayer-funded social assistance. In March 2010, there was a backlog of approximately 60,000 cases at the IRB, but that number has decreased by more than two-thirds.
With these changes, the provinces and territories are expected to save in the range of $1.6 billion over five years in welfare, education and health-care costs.
