Canadians Debate Laws on Refugees

The bouncy 7-year-old Congolese girl and her four brothers and sisters playing in the halls of a Montreal refugee center hardly look like a threat to Canada’s national security.

But asylum seekers like these, along with thousands more would-be immigrants and refugees here, have reason to worry that Canada’s generous open-door policy for the persecuted could become an indirect casualty of the terrorist attacks in the United States last week.

Opposition leaders in Parliament called this week for tightening border security and refugee and immigration procedures, including more immediate detentions and deportations, to reduce security risks.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien answered them bluntly. “Let there be no doubt: We will allow no one to force us to sacrifice our values or traditions under the pressure of urgent circumstances,” he said. “We will continue to welcome people from the whole world. We will continue to offer refuge to the persecuted.”

Despite that pledge, the terrorist strikes in the United States add pressure to the already intense debate here on how to balance suddenly heightened security needs with Canada’s traditional commitment to provide sanctuary for many of the world’s victims of torture, civil wars and political strife.

At the Mennonite House of Friendship refugee center, the five Congolese children are among those waiting for the government to consider their applications. The oldest, just 17, somehow led her clan of siblings from war-torn Congo to Canada a few days before the Sept. 11 attacks and submitted a claim for political asylum. The children, fearful of repercussions, declined to give their names or discuss more details about their situation.

“These people are not in any shape or form a security risk to anybody,” said John Docherty, who has run the center for a dozen years. “Any terrorists who want to come in here are not going to do so on a refugee claim process. They’re just going to pick up documents someplace and come.”

Last year, Canada approved about 14,000 applications of asylum seekers who had turned up at the borders seeking refuge from claimed persecution. The country resettled another 10,000 or so refugees through programs organized with war-ravaged nations such as Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In addition, Canada admits about 200,000 immigrants a year who want to escape not from political problems but from economic hardship.

This combination of immigrants and refugees has added just under 1% a year to Canada’s population of 30 million in recent years, redefining the nation’s demographics and character. In Montreal alone, foreign-born people now make up about 20% of the city’s population.

Salam Elmenyawi, head of the Montreal Muslim Council, said that the 100,000 Muslims in the city “don’t want criminals to come in here” and that they support measures to keep the borders secure. But he added that “the doors should be open to persecuted people. We do fear that in the zeal to do something, we will close the doors to legitimate refugees.”

False Papers Accepted

While the vast majority of new Canadians come from the ranks of ordinary immigrants, the debate on immigration practices centers on the far smaller refugee sector, in part because of the circumstances under which many of them arrive.

Canada and a number of other countries respect a norm developed under the 50-year-old Geneva convention on refugees that allows asylum seekers to arrive in a country with false papers. The logic is that many persecuted people have no legal way of leaving their homeland. The U.S. and some other countries, however, frequently detain applicants who arrive with false papers, putting Canada at odds with its southern neighbor on this policy.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci told reporters Tuesday that “the more common the immigration and refugee laws are” between Canada and the U.S., “the easier it will be to have this perimeter that will protect both countries.”

When the terrorist attacks occurred, the Canadian government was on the verge of adopting amended refugee legislation that many in the field believed struck a reasonable middle ground in tightening the system against abuses and security risks, without jeopardizing basic rights to seek asylum.

Measure Awaits OK

The measure, awaiting Senate approval, would provide more leeway to detain suspected criminals and allows for security screening of applicants upon their arrival, not after their refugee status is approved, as happens now. Those rejected on security grounds would not be able to appeal that aspect of their case.

Already, tighter application of existing refugee laws has led to some cases of apparent abuse, activists say. A Tunisian student living in Quebec City, Haroun M’Barek, opposed deportation to his native land, saying he feared being arrested and tortured. He was deported anyway early this year--and indeed was arrested and tortured. He was allowed to return to Canada a few weeks ago.

“There are already lots of controls on refugees,” said Angelica Marin-Lira, coordinator of a program to help immigrants who have suffered torture in their homelands. “Surely it will become more difficult now.”

Docherty, of the Mennonite center, said detentions of would-be refugees at the border already are being used to dissuade people from seeking asylum.

About half of the 30,000 people who turn up at Canada’s borders seeking asylum annually are approved; in the U.S., about 20% of refugee applications are approved.

Asylum seekers are treated well here, with single people receiving about $318 a month and families getting up to $637 to help pay for an apartment and other costs--even if their applications have been rejected and they are appealing.

The prime minister was resolute in his determination to retain such policies.

“We will not give into the temptation, in a rush to increase security, to undermine the values that we cherish and which have made Canada a beacon of hope, freedom and tolerance to the world,” Chretien said.

But opposition leader Stockwell Day argued for a series of measures, including fewer obstacles to instant deportation and banning refugee groups with terrorist links from raising funds in Canada.

“Refugee claimants who break our laws, or people who have entered this country illegally, especially where there are concerns about security risks, should immediately be detained or deported, not simply be asked to check in at an Immigration Canada office once or twice a month,” Day said.