The research so far is finding that the most significant factor influencing service delivery to refugees is the numbers are way down. Some groups I spoke to have indicated a 60 – 65% decrease in the number of refugees they are seeing. This is similar to the statistical information given on the Canadian Council for Refugees website. The Council reported that in 2001, the Refugee Protection Division was referred a total of 44, 038 refugee claims. By 2004, that number was down to 27, 290 a drop of 38 percent.
The figures could be down for two main reasons. Most groups I interviewed felt that the first is The Safe Third Country Agreement has created an impression that the border is closed. In fact, that is not true and at lest 4 main categories of exceptions are in place; however, the misconception remains. Many other countries also have agreements similar to “Safe Third” so Canada is not alone in this legislation.
Another key factor is that the number of refugee cases being accepted is down in many parts of the country. Toronto seems to be holding in and around the 45% acceptance rate for refugee claims. Ottawa and the Atlantic provinces had the highest rate at 53% for 2004. Vancouver had the lowest at only 24% acceptance.
(The next section of the report included three ideas that came from interviewing refugee service providers across Canada, especially those in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. At the end of each proposal, I had a section on factors to consider for each, looking at how great the need was and how financially viable was each idea.)