TORONTO, 26 November 2002 — Refugee claimants from different countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan, will be denied entry into Canada when Ottawa signs a new agreement with the US early next month, officials sources said here.
A new agreement called a cross-border accord‚ to be signed in Washington on Dec. 5 will allow Canada to deny entry to thousands of refugee claimants who come here by way of the United States.
Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Minister Denis Coderre defended the accord yesterday as a necessary step to control the flow of refugee claimants into Canada by telling those who show up at the border that they are already in a safe country and should seek asylum in the US.
Critics say it amounts to Canada turning its back on refugee claimants who travel by land, forcing them into an American refugee determination system that doesn’t have the same safeguards as Canada’s system and doesn’t provide legal aid or health-care coverage for claimants.
“It’s the facts of life, if we have a system that can welcome 25,000 to 29,000, we just don’t have the resources to have 45,000 to 50,000 every year,” Coderre told the House of Commons immigration committee.
“The only way to make sure that we can regulate the system and be respectful of the rule of law is to send back to a safe third country (the US) those people who want to come here,” he said.
Coderre said the accord includes exceptions built in to respect Canadian values. He said the final version of the accord allows for refugee claimants with family already in Canada, and unaccompanied minors, to enter Canada from the US and make refugee claims.
