Refugees Abusing Canada's "Generous" Immigration System

Abuses of the immigration system are becoming an issue on the political agenda. On one hand, a system that is believed to be "generous" but which needs some improvements. On the other hand, migrants ready to do or to say anything to move to Canada and have a "better" life.

As long as the situation is not getting better in their countries -and I think about Haiti, specifically- more and more people each year would want to leave. And when comparing two systems, the less restrictive one will obviously be chosen, the one that offer no jail time and work opportunities. Therefore should this issue only be addressed by one department (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) or by several (including IDRC, CIDA, Foreign Affairs and some of the United Nations' agencies)? Could an issue -and that of immigration in particular- not be treated as a "global" issue today?


http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Refugees+abuse+system+says+...

Kenney: Refugees Abusing Canada's "Generous" Immigration System
Contributed by blackandred on Fri, 2009-03-27 00:45.

Refugees abuse system, says Kenney By Steven Edwards; March 24, 2009
Vancouver Sun


Immigration Minister Jason Kenney spoke Tuesday of "wide-scale and almost systematic abuse" of Canada's refugee system after a United Nations report showed a 30% increase in the number of people seeking refugee or asylum status in Canada.
Much of the increase comes from a major rise in the numbers of Mexicans, Haitians and Colombians claiming they'll face persecution if Canada sends them back to their respective countries, the UN says.
But the world body also says the United States saw a 3% drop in the number of people asking for asylum in that country last year.
Overall, the percentage increase for Canada is almost three times the average for 51 countries studied in Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries 2008 by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
"This is clearly an abuse of Canada's generosity," Kenney said during an interview. "It is a violation of the integrity of our immigration system."
One difference between the U.S. and Canada is that the States operates a detention system in which applicants can be effectively jailed pending review of their cases, while applicants in Canada are often eligible to work.
"It discourages people from making a claim if they have to stay in jail," said David Matas, a refugee lawyer in Winnipeg.