Miller to propose more changes to immigration and asylum system

OTTAWA — Immigration Minister Marc Miller says further reforms to Canada’s immigration and asylum systems will be proposed in the coming weeks.

This comes on the heels of a significant cut to the amount of permanent residents being admitted to Canada in two years, and the tightening of rules around temporary worker permits.

Statistics provided by Canadian officials show the average wait time to process refugee and asylum claims is around 44 months.

Miller tells the House of Commons immigration committee that the asylum and refugee system is not working the way it should due to volume and inefficiency.

The minister said that this result is not unsurprising, as he says more people are being counselled to file asylum claims where he doesn’t think they should have the ability to do so.

There were nearly 250,000 refugee claims that need to be decided as of the end of September and at the time 48,000 asylum claims had been processed since the beginning of this year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2024

David Baxter, The Canadian Press