Overseas Protection

• Author: Martin Jones - Sasha Baglay
• Profession: Centre for Refugee Studies, York University - Centre for Refugee Studies, York University. Faculty of Criminology, Justice and Policy Studies, University of Ontario Institute of Technology
• Pages: 187-214

187

CHAP TER 7

OVER SEAS PROTECTION

A. OVERVIEW

Resettlement is, after inland refugee determination, the other major

avenue by which refugees can be admitted to Canada. In fact, before

the surge in the numbers of asylum se ekers in the late 1980s and 1990s,

most refugees came to Canad a through resettlement from overseas. De-

spite the current prevalence of inland asylum claims over applications

for protection from overseas, Canada continues to play an important

part in global resett lement through its domestic progr ams as well as

through its participation in the United Nations High Commissioner

of Refugees (UNHCR)’s off‌icial resettlement program. B etween 1995

and 2005, Canada resettled on average ten thousand refugees annu-

ally.1 As one of sixteen states participating in the UNHCR resettlement

program,2 Canada usually rank s among the top three countrie s in the

number of refugees resettled in a g iven year.3 This high ranking is a

1 Citizensh ip and Immigration Can ada (CIC), “Facts & Figures: Imm igration

Overvie w 2003” [“CIC Overvie w 2003”] at 2; CIC, “Facts & Figur es: Immigra-

tion Overv iew 2004” [“CIC Overview 2004”] at 2; both onl ine: www.cic.gc.ca.

2 UNHCR, “New Reset tlement Programs,” online: ww w.unhcr.org/cgi-bin /texis/

vtx/ protect?id=3bb2e1d04. The participant s are Australia, Beni n, Brazil, Bur-

kina Faso, Can ada, Chile, Denmark, Fin land, Iceland, Ireland, t he Netherlands,

New Zeala nd, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and the US.

3UNHCR Statist ical Yearbook 2001, UNHCR Statistical Yearbook 2002, UN HCR

Statistical Yearbook 2003,and UNHCR Statis tical Yearbook 2004, online: www.

REFUGEE LAW188

testament both to the relat ively large number of refugees resettled by

Canada and to the ver y small number of refugees re settled by most

other states.

Despite being driven by t he same humanitar ian ideals as inland

determination, resettlement possesses several peculiar characteristics.

Resettlement applies only to ind ividuals outside of Can ada. Further-

more, an individual must generally f ulf‌il more than the si mple criteria

of being a “refugee” or a “person in need of protection.” Applications

are assessed by Citizenship and Immig ration Canada (CIC) off‌icers at

Canadian m issions abroad and applicants must secure the support of

a sponsor to assist in their settlement in Canad a. In addition, over-

seas applicants must pass mandatory medical, security, and crimina l-

ity checks and generally demonstrate an ability to become successfully

established in Canada.

Refugee selection is uniform across Canada, e xcept for Quebec,

which, under the Canada-Qu ebec Accord is responsible for its own re-

settlement process and its ow n admission targets. Individuals who are

selected for resettlement are issued v isas, then tr avel to Canada and

become permanent residents of Ca nada upon arriva l. Due to its de-

sign, resettlement is much more susceptible to planning and to state

control; it is often contrasted with the more “spontaneous” and “self-

selected” nature of the inland claims. Unlike t he numbers of inland

refugee claims, which c an f‌luctuate dramatically from year to yea r in

response to a variety of factors in countries of origi n and destination,

the numbers of resettled refugees usually remain more or less constant

over time.

Every year, the government establishes annual target quotas for re-

settlement.4 Canada’s annual im migration plans for 1996–2006 set a

target of admitting between ten a nd fourteen thousand refugees;5 the

actual number resettled dur ing 1996–2005 was on average approxi-

mately eleven thousand.6 Some countries, like Australia, put resettle-

unhcr.org. For example, Can ada accepted 10 percent of refugees resett led by

industrialized countries during 1992–2001.

4 There is no target for sel f-supporting refugee s; for the purposes of annua l sta-

tistics, t heir numbers are included in t he privately sponsored c ategory. CIC, In

Canada Processing of Conve ntion Refugees Abroad and Me mbers of the Humanitaria n

Protected Persons Abroad Cla sses, Policy and Program Manual [In Canada Process-

ing Manual] at 24, online: www.cic.gc.ca /manuals-guide s/english/ip/i ndex.html.

5 CIC, “Annual Immigr ation Plans,” online: www.cic.gc.ca/engl ish/pub/index-

2.html#reports.

6 “CIC Overview 20 03” at 2; “CIC Overv iew 2004” at 2; both above note 1.

Online: ww w.cic.gc.ca.