Canada to end asylum shopping

Canada plans to stop migrants from seeking asylum if they have already done so in another country.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending legislation that would prevent people from “asylum shopping” in Canada, barring them from making such a claim if they previously applied for asylum in other safe countries, including the United States.

The measure was slipped into a 392-page budget omnibus bill presented to parliament this week. Critics called it an attack on the rights of vulnerable people, and said it flew in the face of a compassionate Canada advanced by Mr Trudeau, once seen welcoming newcomers with a hug and a gift of a parka.

But officials said it would ease pressure on Canada’s refugee system, which has been overwhelmed by a recent flood of migrants arriving via the US.

The government is earmarking $US880 million in spending over the next five years to reinforce border security and speed up processing of asylum claims.

Mr Trudeau said Canada has been seeing larger numbers of refugee claims because of global instability. Sustaining Canadians’ confidence in the country’s asylum system means ensuring those who enter Canada do so according to the law, he said.

“That’s why we’re putting more resources in, and we’re also ensuring the system is fair for everyone,” Mr Trudeau told reporters.

Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen this week said the measure was supported by the UN and would result in about 1000 claimants each year being denied asylum in Canada. The provision, he said, would formalise the notion that Canada’s refugee system was comparable to those in other developed nations and so if an asylum bid had been rejected by them, it would fail in Canada.

“If you are able to claim asylum in a country like Australia, which has a very robust asylum system, why would you then claim asylum again in Canada? That’s called asylum shopping and we are against it. And the UN is against it,” he said.

Authorities say that since early 2017, more than 41,000 asylum-seekers have “irregularly” crossed into Canada, meaning they arrived without going through an official port of entry. By doing so, they take advantage of a loophole in Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement with the US that allows people who cross irregularly to make refugee claims. Asylum-seekers trying to enter at official border crossings are turned back to the US — a country Canada considers safe for them.

The influx of irregular migrants to Canada began after US President Donald Trump announced he would end a program that offerstemporary protected status to people from several countries, serving notice he would seek to return them to homelands thatthe United States had previously considered too dangerous. The US also eliminated domestic and gang violence as possible grounds for asylum. Refugee advocates, lawyers and opposition parties have questioned the asylum proposal, saying that disallowing asylum-seekers in Canada who have made prior refugee claims in other countries could see them sent back to dangerous situations.

Members of Parliament have asked to divide the non-budgetary measures from the budget bill so the asylum proposal can be voted on separately.

New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan denounced Ottawa’s crackdown, telling MPs: “Humanitarian leaders do not shut their borders to asylum-seekers during a refugee crisis.”

Janet Dench, head of the Canadian Council for Refugees, said she was “in a state of shock and dismay and great disappointment” over the proposed changes. “This is really a devastating attack on refugee rights,” she said.

AP, AFP