An astounding 45,687 Indian nationals are awaiting an asylum decision in Canada – the largest group from any nation – even as a refugee advocate cautions the government against “villainizing students” from that democracy who are seeking Canada’s protections.
Gauri Sreenivasan of the Canadian Council for Refugees told New Canadian Media in an interview that the refugee claims from Indian nationals – most of them international students – has “nothing to do with how you came or when you came.” She pointed to the “Come to study, Come to stay” campaign launched by the Trudeau government to welcome foreign students, until it abruptly changed course two years ago.
In their opinion, the refugee determination system is working exactly as it should, emphasizing that Canada’s independent tribunal is seen as a role model for the rest of the world.
Breakdown of Indian refugee claims
Since then, she asserts, the discourse around these students has become “very negative and toxic,” stressing that there are significant human rights concerns in India, including the persecution of minorities and journalists, and gender-based violence. (NCM reached out both to the Indian high commission in Ottawa and the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi for comment, without success.)
Indian nationals top the chart of source-countries awaiting a refugee determination before the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), an independent tribunal. As of Dec. 31, there were a total of 299,614 applicants from 189 identified countries waiting for a Yes or No determination.
However, the overwhelming number of refugee claims is not without its detractors. Writing for the Macdonald Laurier Institute, Prof. Michael Barutciski of York University, said that the expiry of millions of temporary visas has compounded the IRB’s backlog of refugee claims. “They will not all leave quietly after years of implicit semi-promises that they could eventually transition to permanent status. As a sign of the underlying worries, the Immigration Minister has recently expressed concern that many foreign students have started claiming asylum.”
He has called for an overhaul of what he sees as an overly generous refugee determination system that encourages more claims. “The IRB’s historic backlog gives us no alternative but to rethink the whole system and to clarify the purpose of asylum from a values-based realistic perspective,” Prof. Barutciski argues.
Both Sreenivasan and Barutciski referred to Bill C-12, the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act, which became law on Thursday. Sreenivasan sees it as a “fundamental weakening” of Canada’s system of accepting refugees and an effort to mimic the U.S.’s much-tougher border controls, while Barutciski characterizes the new law as a “practical first step to avoid aggravating the IRB’s backlog.”
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