Canada's acceptance of refugee claims has ballooned in last 6 years — more for some countries than others

This story is part of Welcome to Canada, a CBC News series about immigration told through the eyes of the people who have experienced it.

The number of refugee claimants Canada has accepted has more than doubled since 2018. A CBC investigation has found that people from some countries have an easier time claiming asylum than others.

The number of refugee claimants granted asylum in Canada was close to 37,000 in 2023, up from just over 14,000 in 2018.

The recognition rate, which is determined by the number of accepted refugee claims divided by the total number of claims that have been decided by the Immigration and Refugee Board on merit, also increased to 82 per cent in the first nine months of 2024, from 64 per cent in 2018. 

Much of the media coverage around asylum seekers has featured those who come to Canada from countries such as India, Haiti and Mexico. Around half the claims from these countries were accepted between January 2018 and Sept. 30, 2024.

But the most asylum seekers allowed to stay in Canada came from two countries where more than 95 per cent of decisions were positive: Iran and Turkey. This was true regardless of the type of persecution the person was fleeing, a CBC analysis of data from the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) has revealed.

There are many factors that determine whether an asylum seeker is allowed to stay in Canada, the IRB said in a statement, including a person's credibility, their ability to prove their identity and claims of persecution, the severity of the threats facing them and the conditions in their home country. 

But experts told CBC there are also two systems for deciding asylum claims: one that produces mostly positive decisions for people from countries Canada has deemed to be sources of legitimate refugees, and another for everyone else. Critics say that because there is less scrutiny of claims processed the first way, the system is vulnerable to abuse.

Most refugee claimants present their cases at a hearing, during which a member of the IRB decides whether they qualify for asylum.

But the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act allows for some cases to be decided without a hearing, a process informally known as a paper review. This process is for people from countries with historically high acceptance rates who can prove their identity, have no serious credibility issues and have cleared a security screening, according to the IRB. 

Refugee claims cannot be rejected without a hearing, so paper reviews have only two possible outcomes: a positive decision, or a decision to send a case to a hearing. 

It used to be rare for refugee cases to be approved without a hearing, says Vancouver refugee and immigration lawyer Mojdeh Shahriari, who is also a former IRB member. But a huge backlog of cases waiting to be heard — almost 250,000 as of Sept. 30, 2024 — has the government looking for ways to process claims faster and without the time and expense of a hearing, she said.

Deciding refugee cases this way can be risky, Shahriari says. 

"I think it's common knowledge now that the refugee protection system in Canada has been and is increasingly being abused."