In this article you will learn:

1. Who are the refugees
2. Canadian refugee protection programmes
3. A person's right to apply for asylum in Canada
   1. Refugees and persons in need of protection
   2. Right to refer the application for further consideration
4. Asylum claims when you enter from the U.S.

Other articles in the "Becoming a refugee (asylum) in Canada" series.

Who are the refugees

The Government of Canada defines the term "refugees" on its official website:

• are people who flee their home countries because of a well-founded risk of persecution
• they don't have the ability to go home
• they have witnessed or experienced many horrors

The Government of Canada points out that a refugee is different from an immigrant. An immigrant is a person who has independently decided to settle permanently in another country. Refugees are forced to relocate.

According to Canada's 2018-2020 immigration plan, the government has set a target of taking in 43,000 refugees in 2018, 45,650 in 2019, and 48,700 in 2020.

Canadian refugee protection programmes

Canada's refugee system has two main programs:

• The Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program for people outside Canada who are in need of protection
• In-Canada Asylum Program (In-Canada Asylum Program)

Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program

This program is designed for refugees who ...

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already have this status, having already had to live in refugee camps for many years.

A person cannot apply directly to Canada for resettlement under this program. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), together with private sponsors, identifies refugees who already have this status for resettlement in Canada. Once they are identified, it takes time to process the cases.

Canada reviews all resettlement cases carefully. This ensures that the person has no security, crime or health problems.

Resettled refugees go through security checks and medical screening outside of Canada before they are determined to resettle in Canada. They then receive a visa to enter Canada. In Canada, they are immediately given permanent resident status.

Under the Resettlement Assistance Program, the Government of Canada or the Province of Quebec helps resettled refugees with essential services and provides financial support.

A refugee receives this support for one year or until they are able to support themselves. Such support is provided to refugees who cannot pay for their basic needs.

The amount of money refugees receive for housing, food and other items is determined by the basic social assistance rates in each province and territory.

The Resettlement Assistance Program also provides the following services during the first 4-6 weeks after refugees reach Canada:

• Meeting at the airport or other port of entry (e.g. seaport)
• Assistance in finding temporary housing
• Assistance in finding permanent housing
• needs assessment
• Providing information and help to get to know Canada
• Providing referrals to other federal and provincial programs

Private sponsors also provide support, including assistance with shelter, clothing and food. Most sponsorship programmes last for one year, but some refugees can get help from their sponsors for up to three years.

In-Canada Asylum Program

Canada provides protection under this program to people who are already in Canada, fear persecution in their home country, and are unwilling or unable to return to their country.

Individuals can apply for asylum in Canada at:

• port of entry (airport, seaport) or
• Out-of-port at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) or Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) office

CBSA or IRCC officers will determine if a person can make an asylum claim in Canada. Factors that determine a person's eligibility to apply for asylum include whether the applicant has committed a serious crime, has made such an application before in Canada or has received protection in another country.

In-Canada Asylum Program asylum seekers are different from resettled refugees who come to Canada through the Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program. In-Canada Asylum Program claimants apply for asylum in Canada at a port of entry or at CBSA and IRCC offices. These applications are governed in part by international treaties that Canada has signed. Resettled refugees, as mentioned above, become eligible to enter Canada as a refugee while still outside of Canada.

All In-Canada Asylum Program applicants undergo a health and safety screening in Canada, including biographical and biometric checks, as well as security and crime checks.

A person's right to apply for asylum in Canada

Refugees and persons in need of protection

You can apply for asylum if you are an ordinary refugee or a person in need of protection.

Common refugees are those people who are outside their home country or the country in which they normally reside. They cannot return because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on indicia:

• races
• religions
• political opinions
• nationalities
• belonging to a particular social group (belonging to a social group includes, but is not limited to, gender-related disadvantage (e.g. women), sexual orientation, gender identity, HIV status of the applicant)

In 2021, Canada added human rights defenders to the list of people who can apply for asylum. This category includes people who protect the rights and freedoms of citizens, as well as those who suffer from the arbitrariness of state structures and officials. Canada pays special attention to journalists and those who defend the rights of women and the LGBT community.

A person in need of protection is a person who has arrived in Canada and cannot safely return to their country. If he/she returns, he/she will be personally exposed:

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• at risk to their lives
• the risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment

How these two categories of applicants differ:

Common refugees in the country from which they are fleeing are at risk in relation to manyns> people (the particular social group to which they belong). The status of this category of people is regulated by the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. For example, there is moral/criminal harassment, LGBT/women/HIV-positive people in country A. through searches, arrests and other measures that violate their human rights, causing them to flee country A.

personalns> risk. A person in need of protection is not a refugee under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Such a person is in need of protection because they have been forced to come to Canada, or to remain in Canada, due to a threat to their life, safety or freedom in their country of origin because they fear the death penalty or a sentence of capital punishment or torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or systematic abuse of human rights, and cannot or will not return to that country because of these concerns (the reasons listed are not exhaustive!).

A person in need of protection:

• cannot obtain protection from the government of the country from which they are fleeing
• exposed only to personal risk. For example, risk is not the result of famine or civil war.
• exposed to risks that do not result from the application of laws, such as penalties for committing a crime, unless those laws violate international standards (e.g., the death penalty).
• exposed to risks that are not related to a lack of health care in the home country, except if they are unable to obtain such care due to persecution or discrimination.

When applying, the person in need of protection must also prove that there is no safe place in their country where there is no risk they face and where they could move to. This is called an "internal flight alternative".

Right to refer the application for further consideration

Returning to the factors that determine a person's eligibility to apply for asylum, it is important to note that the officers (at the airport, CBSA or IRCC) who are reviewing your asylum application will decide if the review will go further to the Inmigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). The IRB is an independent board that deals with all immigration and refugee matters.

An asylum application cannot be referred to the IRB for further consideration, in other words you may be refused asylum if you:

• have been recognised as refugees (Convention refugee) by another country to which you can return
• have already obtained protected person status in Canada
• arrived across the land border between Canada and the U.S.
• unacceptable to Canada because of security concerns or because of criminal activity or human rights abuses
• have already applied for asylum in Canada and have been rejected
• have already applied for asylum in Canada, which was rejected by the IRB
• have refused or withdrawn their previous application for asylum in Canada

Note. If you are in deportation (removal) proceedings from Canada, you cannot apply for asylum.

Asylum claims when you enter from the U.S.

Canada has a Agreement with the United States Canada-United States Safe Third Country Agreement that requires people who want to apply for asylum to do so in the first safe country they arrive in.

This means that if you enter Canada over the land border from the U.S. (this includes arriving by car, train, bus, walking or other means not excluded by the Agreement), you cannot apply for asylum in Canada. The Agreement does not apply to those arriving from the U.S. by sea and by air (to an airport).

The land boundary rule does not apply in the following cases :

• the refugee has a family member in Canada and can prove family ties
• the refugee is under the age of 18 and is not accompanied by a mother, father or legal guardian, does not have a spouse or partner, and does not have a mother or father or legal guardian in Canada or the United States
• the refugee has a valid Canadian visa of any type (except for a visa for the purpose of transit through Canada)
• The refugee is charged with a crime for which he or she may face the death penalty in the United States or a third country

In addition, the agreement does not apply to applicants who have entered Canada at a place that is not a port of entry (checkpoint). This includes illegal border crossings.

Other articles in the "Becoming a refugee (asylum) in Canada" series.

Coming up on Immigrant.Today:

— How to stay in Canada if you are denied refugee status

— Life after refugee status in Canada: Help and statistics