Mexico is no longer at the top of the countries of origin of asylum seekers, according to the most recent data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Applications from Mexicans collapsed after the federal government reinstated the visa requirement for nationals of that country: they went from 1,360 in February to 215 in March and 175 in April. Mexico now occupies 2nd place among the top 10 countries of origin for asylum seekers in Quebec, behind India. The others are, in order, Haiti, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Algeria and Guinea. Note: These are not the places where the situation of citizens is the most catastrophic in the world – think of countries torn by war and hit by massive population displacement. For the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the priority countries are Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, Burma and Ukraine.
The unpredictable nature of asylum requests is well illustrated by Bangladesh. The number of asylum requests from this country is exploding. From January to April, there were 2,020 requests from Bangladeshis in Quebec, compared to 117 for the same period last year. Seventeen times more! What is happening in Bangladesh? “It’s one of the poorest countries on the planet,” explains Mathieu Boisvert, professor in the department of religious sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal. Added to this is the tightening of the “illegal immigration” policy in India, a neighboring country of Bangladesh, he notes. But to enter Canada, you need a visa. This suggests that there may be organized networks in Bangladesh, as in India. The case of Bangladesh also illustrates the fact that the primary reason for departure is poverty and that in many cases, the request for asylum is a gateway to a form of economic immigration. The Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, also told The Canadian Press that he had “taken several measures to tighten the noose internally” in the face of an increase in asylum requests made by foreigners who arrived in the country. with a visitor visa.
Indian asylum claims are increasing month by month. From January to April, Quebec received almost as many claims (3,985) as it did in all of 2023 (4,670). At this rate, there will be 12,000 Indian asylum seekers by the end of the year. “You have a fairly large proportion of asylum seekers who are motivated by factors of individual persecution,” explains Adèle Garnier, professor at Université Laval and member of the Chair in Global Migration Dynamics. “Then, it’s possible that there are also pull factors, such as the presence of the community and the lack of economic opportunities.” Another hypothesis: Indians come to Canada to travel illegally to the United States. In the last nine months, the American border patrol has arrested more than 10,000 people from Quebec. Among them, many Indians. Here too, La Presse was able to observe the existence of networks that demand thousands of dollars from Indians to obtain a visitor visa allowing them to enter Canada and request asylum.
Over the past year, the number of requests from Nigeria has skyrocketed. From 20 in April 2023, it increased to 385 in April this year. There was a relaxation in the issuance of tourist visas to travelers from this and other West African countries last year, which could explain the increase in applications from Nigeria. This country, the most populous in Africa, has the largest number of inhabitants in situations of extreme poverty on the planet. “There is also religious persecution against Christians,” underlines Adèle Garnier. Since the reforms adopted by President Trump, asylum requests for reasons of domestic, sexual or religious violence are much more difficult to grant in the United States,” she explains. For example, the inability to be able to live one’s homosexuality openly, as is the case in many African countries, allows one to obtain asylum in Canada, which is not the case in the United States or in the European area.
After a drop in requests from Haitians, following the closure of Roxham Road, at the end of March 2023, we are seeing an increase, around 600 requests per month. “It’s clear that there are a lot of reasons to flee Haiti,” observes Michael Barutciski, lawyer and professor at York University in Toronto. “If I were Haitian, I would want to flee. But what is also clear is that we are imposing visas on Haitians because we do not want to have millions of Haitians in Canada. So, we have to be honest and recognize that many Haitians would come here if there were no visas. » Those with family in Canada can apply for asylum at a land border crossing. Others can cross the border, other than at an official port of entry (without being caught), and submit an asylum application 14 days later, as provided for in the revised Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States.
