CANADA’S ACCEPTANCE RATE FOR SRI LANKAN REFUGEE CLAIMS UP

Despite a decision from the
Immigration and Refugee
Board that suggests things
are getting better in Sri
Lanka, the acceptance rate
for Tamils seeking refuge in
Canada ended on an
upswing, according to figures
provided by the IRB.


QMI Agency reported late
last year that after accepting
more than 80% of all Sri
Lankan refugee claims for
most of the year, the
acceptance rate dropped to
47% in September. Just-
released figures show that
the acceptance rate fell again
in October to 43% before
heading back up to 67% in
November and 68% in
December.

In 2010, Canada accepted
76% of the 672 refugee
claims that were finalized.
These figures do not include
the nearly 500 Sri Lankan
nationals that arrived in
Canada on the MV Sun Sea
last August.

Despite the drop in the
acceptance rate, which stood
at 90.7% in 2009, Sri Lankans
still have the highest
acceptance rate among the
top-10 source countries for
refugees. Canada’s overall
acceptance rate for refugees
in 2010 was 38%.
The second-highest
acceptance rate was for
refugee applicants from
Nigeria, 64% of whom were
accepted, while the United
States had the lowest
acceptance rate -- just 1% of
the 969 cases. Mexico
provided the highest number
of finalized refugee cases in
2010. Of the 5,827 Mexican
cases that were settled, just
11% were accepted.

In November, the IRB
rejected a refugee
application from a Sri Lankan
man on the basis that his life
is no longer threatened in his
home country with the end
of the civil war in the spring
of 2009. That decision has
now been deemed a
“ persuasive decision,” one
which the IRB says members
do not need to follow.

“They
are decisions that members
are encouraged to rely upon
in the interests of consistency
and effective decision-
making, ” the IRB said.
The United Nations High
Commission for Refugees
recently reported an increase
in the number of refugees
they have assisted in
returning to Sri Lanka. The
UN agency helped more than
2,000 people resettle in 2010,
while thousands more
returned on their own, the
Toronto Sun reports.