OTTAWA — Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller says he’s eyeing changes to Canada’s asylum system “that could potentially address” people who take advantage of the Safe Third Country Agreement.
Under the revised deal, Canada and the United States can turn away people who cross from one country into another through unofficial points of entry and try to claim asylum within 14 days. Until early 2023, the agreement only applied to official points of entry and did not include a 14-day rule.
Immigration lawyers and refugee advocates say the change has forced people to make more dangerous choices, like rely on human smugglers to bring them across the border in undetected ways, and to remain hidden until two weeks pass in order to make an asylum claim.
Miller said he believes the agreement is functioning well and any changes would take time working with the U.S.
“What I am considering is changes to the asylum system that could potentially address the ways that the … agreement gets gamed by people trying to come to Canada,” he told National Post in a year-end interview.
“There’s a bunch of options that are open on reforming the asylum system. That’s something that’ll follow in the next couple of weeks.”
Asked specifically whether that includes examining the 14-day rule, Miller said it means “looking at measures to deal with people that would game that.”
“I think the point with the 14-day rule is if you get people within 14 days you return them and same applies with the U.S.”
The Bloc Québécois has called for the provision to be scrapped altogether.
Maureen Silcoff, a Toronto-based immigration and refugee lawyer, said she sees the 14-day rule as important to encourage people to present themselves to immigration officials.
Eliminating it would not be helpful because it would remove any incentive for people to come forward at all, she says.
“There would be no way to institute a claim, and they would likely simply remain underground.”
Miller declined to say whether he believes the 14 day should be expanded or the provision be removed as the Bloc Québécois has called for, saying the U.S. may have its own views, which is part of a larger discussion.
Over the past two years, immigration has proved a challenge for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. After successive increases, Trudeau took the drastic step of announcing it was slashing permanent immigration by 20 per cent, acknowledging that his government “didn’t get the balance quite right,” particularly coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, where businesses and premiers were seized by concerns over labour shortages. He also cited immigration’s impact on housing affordability and social systems.
Pressure on the Liberals has only increased since Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in November, as security agencies brace for a possible influx of people trying to enter Canada from the U.S., following Trump’s pledge to deport 11 million people.
It also faces the challenge of responding to Trump’s concern about people crossing illegally into the U.S., with the president-elect threatening to slap a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian imports if the issue goes unaddressed, same with the flow of fentanyl.
Miller told National Post that while he takes the U.S.’s concerns seriously, he believes Trump’s border concerns largely stem from a “toxic debate” happening over its southern border, saying the amount of people crossing from Canada amounts to a “rounding error” compared to the volumes coming from Mexico.
Aaron McCrorie, vice-president of enforcement and intelligence at the border services agency, said in a recent interview that over the past year they have seen more people claiming asylum at Canadian airports and then trying to cross into the U.S.
That flow has slowed since the federal government tightened up certain visa requirements, he said.
In February, the Liberals reinstated visa requirements for Mexican nationals, amid a sharp rise in the number of people claiming asylum, particularly in Quebec. The U.S. had also raised the issue, as it tried to curb the flow of migrants across both its northern and southern borders.
Miller said when it comes to reforming its asylum system, he says Canadians want a system where the Immigration and Refugee Board, which is responsible for assessing refugee claims and hearing appeals, deals with files faster.
“That isn’t the case currently,” he said. “It’s the result of recent flow into the country that we need to do a better job in making sure we’re limiting.”
He says the government is looking at legislative changes and that the board has requested more resources. Miller added he believes there are ways to more quickly clear claims that do not appear legitimate, “so that people know that they can’t come here and game the system.”
“You’ll always find actors that are trying to exploit loopholes, and that’s something we have to constantly be on the front foot in trying to see and react to.”
Miller told a parliamentary committee last month there has been a trend of individuals on student visas filing claims and others being counselled to do so when they have little hope of remaining in the country.
Silcoff said there are around 260,000 people waiting for their claims to be assessed.
Clearing that backlog when the board accepts roughly 80 per cent of claims made is the challenge facing the government.
In terms of options, she said the Liberals could look at removing cases of individuals hailing from countries with high acceptance rates and deal with them through another stream so to allow the tribunal to deal with the more complicated ones.
She also pointed to how Miller has said he is open to creating a narrow regularization program for undocumented people living in Canada with specific skillsets, which she said could include refugees.
National Post
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