Refugee claimants spike at B.C. airports

The number of people arriving at airports in B.C. to make a refugee claim in 2023 has doubled compared to 2022, and that’s before the federal government released the numbers for December of last year.

From January to November, 630 travelers made refugee claims at the province’s airports, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Only 350 people were processed at B.C. airports in 2022, and 335 before the pandemic in 2019. The number was as low at 80 claimants for the entire year in 2015.

This upward trend is being seen across Canada, with Quebec processing 23,245 claimants at the province’s airports between January and November in 2023. That’s compared to the 11,664 applications received in 2022.

Not all refugee claimants need support as soon as they arrive at a Canadian airport. But many do, says Loren Balisky, director of engagement at Kinbrace Refugee Housing and Support.

The agency represents just a handful of organizations in Vancouver equipped to receive and provide guidance to newcomers who need help with accommodations and navigating the immigration system.

“The numbers are incredible, if you look back to 2011. That year, the number (of asylum claimants processed by the Canada Border Services Agency and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) was just 25,000. Last year, not including December, the number was 128,000. That’s 100,000 claimants in just one year,” noted Balisky.

He stresses their resources have always been stretched.

“We’ve always been in crisis mode, but when those numbers keep increasing, it’s just crisis amplified for the claimants and the charities who support them until they get status and can be independent,” Balisky said. “Large refugee settlement agencies are tapped out.”

Kinbrace works on referral basis, meaning claimants get help only after going through another party. It operates six transitional housing units, and can only accomodate 30 to 40 refugee claimants a year. The Immigrant Services Society of BC has what it calls “18 flexible living units for refugees.”

Asylum seekers are winding up in Vancouver’s homeless shelters, Balisky says.

“There’s a shelter downtown which said 95 per cent of their occupancy is refugee claimants,” he said. “They’ve never had that before. It used to be around five percent. It’s a huge stress on everything.”

The number of asylum seekers taking up space in Lower Mainland homeless shelters is difficult to quantify. The Union Gospel MIssion in Vancouver, for example, says it doesn’t ask people their status when they arrive at the shelter. Although the organization located in the Downtown Eastside says it does serve refugees, they are not the majority of the people who use its services.

But Balisky says the shelters aren’t suitable for the newcomers.

“Refugee claimants are often retraumatized when they enter into homeless shelters here because they are exposed to people with addicitons and mental health problems,” he said.

He points out it can be months before an asylum seeker is given the go-ahead to apply to become a refugee, and a surge of applicants just adds to the backlog.

“People are living in survival mode, trying to make ends meet and trying to navigate the refugee system,” he said.

The surge in asylum seekers arriving at Canadian aiports can be partially attributed to the federal government restricting irregular land border crossings at places such as Roxham Road in Quebec.

Refugee claims received at land border crossings dropped from 46,000 in 2022 to 27,000 last year, according to Immigration Canada. This past year, the federal government also lowered the eligibility bar for people seeking visitor’s visas, which enables more people to travel to Canada, where they can make a claim.

This week, Quebec Premier Francois Legault pleaded with the Trudeau government to stem the tide of refugees, saying services in his province were at a “breaking point.”

Toronto is toying with a tax increase to fund more shelters for asylum seekers. The city estimates 5,800 refugee claimants are using up more than half of the city’s shelter capacity.