Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - July 2009
The Canadian Minister of Immigration says that it is time to fix the country�s much-ailing refugee system.
The comments were made this week by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, after his department�s controversial move to require visas from Mexican and Czech visitors. The move, intended to discourage ballooning illegitimate refugee claims, sparked outrage both in and beyond the borders.
�When we raise with our partners in foreign countries the issue of false asylum claims, or large flows like we�ve seen from Mexico and Czech Republic, they turn the discussion back on us and say �Your system is inviting this kind of abuse. And you need to fix your system,�� said Kenney.
The Minister did not go into detail regarding the possible solutions. However, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration is looking to reforms made by Britain in 2004, including �reducing layers of appeals� which would likely rile immigrant advocates and lawyers in Canada.
Other changes made by Britain include �fast-tracking� refugee claims from the world�s �safer� countries, as well as handing over first-round decision-making to visa officers, rather than tribunals.
�It�s not lost on economic migrants who want to jump the queue that we have a system that�s fairly easy to abuse,� added Kenney. �And where people can settle in Canada, sometimes for several years, with a mixture of a work permit and/or social benefits, and if they�re determined to, they can game our system and abuse our generosity.�
Source: The Globe and Mail
