Fast and Fair? How to fix the refugee system

 

This weekend on The House, I'll be sharing an interview I did with Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

Refugee claims in Canada are on the rise: they jumped by 30 per cent last year. That increase has prompted some strong language and strong action from our leaders.

This summer, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney introduced visa restrictions on Mexico and the Czech Republic to help stem the flow of claims.

 

They called it a temporary measure until they bring in new legislation in the coming months to streamline the refugee system.

 

The Minister of Immigration says the solution is to crack down on  what he calls bogus claimants.

 

Some refugee experts say the minister is polarizing the debate, possibly to score political points.

 

Peter Showler is a law professor and director of the Refugee Forum at the University of Ottawa. He has also served as the chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

 

He argues that just because a claim is rejected does not mean a claimant doesn't face persecution or danger in his or her home country.

 

For example, he says, many Mexican claims are rejected because in law, those people qualify for protection by the state. But because of abuses in the Mexican criminal justice system, many people who are rejected quite rightly fear for their safety.

 

"In actuality, a great many number of those claimants were threatened in Mexico. They were afraid of narcotraffickers. And in some cases because of serious domestic violence they have real fears for their lives.... It doesn't mean they came here knowing they were not a refugee and simply intending to jumpt the queue, as the minister says."

 

Here's my unedited interview with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney about his plan to change the Immigration and Refugee System.

 

To hear more about this story, listen my full report this weekend on The House.