The Socio-Economic Integration of

‘Irregular’ Asylum Seekers:

Government and Community
Responses
Jill Hanley
McGill School of Social Work, and Sherpa-Recherche
Damaris Rose
INRS – Centre de recherche Urbanisation Culture Société

International Metropolis Conference, Ottawa, 24-28 June 2019

BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH
CONTEXT

2
Asylum claimants = 1 in 20 newcomers
to Canada in 2017

Sources: IRCC, 2018 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration; IRCC, Asylum claims by year – 2017. https://www.canada.ca 3
/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/asylum-claims/asylum-claims-2017.html [accessed 2019-04-15]
Asylum claims, Canada (total), Quebec
and Ontario, 1998-2018

Sources: Compiled from CIC/IRCC publications and online data, various years
4
 Settlement context of asylum claimants
• Canada’s refugee determination process
– Protected person status leads to permanent residency
– Long processing times
• Social citizenship of asylum claimants
– Right to a fair hearing
– Geographic mobility rights
– Basic health care
– Work permit
– Last resort social assistance
• Newcomer settlement services for asylum claimants
– Ineligible for federally-funded settlement programs
– Provincial, municipal, faith-based, community sectors
compensate somewhat
5
Refugees & protected persons = 15%
of new permanent residents in 2017

Source: IRCC, 2018 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration 6

 What changed in the asylum-seeking
process in 2017?
• Sudden increase in “irregular
border crossers”, to 40% of
asylum claimants (IRCC, 2018a)
• Over 90% of irregular border
crossers to Canada entered via
Quebec (IRCC, 2018b)

Contributing factors:
• Trump administration policy changes
• Social networks
• International reputation of Canada’s
reception of refugees
• Safe Third Country Agreement (Canada-
US) affects the chosen route
7
Profile of recent asylum seekers to Quebec
in 2017-2018
Quebec Irregular Border Crossings 37,354

Quebec Regular Asylum Claims 15,351

• Big increase in children 0-14 (IRCC data)

• Among those using government shelters (December
2018):
* More children (36% of total)
* More families (45% of adults)
8
* More single parents (42% of these families, mostly
woman-headed)
25%
Countries of Origin, January 2017-
October 2018 (Quebec arrivals)
23%

20%
18%

15%
12%

10%
8%

6%
5%
5% 4%
3% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2%
1%

0%

Source: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/b6cbcf4d-f763-4924-a2fb-8cc4a06e3de4
9
 Government Responses
• Federal
– Humane response at the border
– Expedited work permits
– Provided funding for temporary accommodation
– But recent action to try to stem arrivals

• Provincial
– Opened new temporary refugee shelters
– Increased social worker capacity in the provincial refugee claimant referral centre
– Increased spots in “welcome classes” in schools
– Increased funding available to support refugee claimants’ housing search (2 new
organizations)
– Non-constructive responses: enforcement of old regulation excluding asylum
seekers from low-cost childcare!

• Municipal
– Initial response: Declaration of becoming a “Sanctuary City” (since dialed back)
– BINAM (new player in newcomer settlement): financed 2 organizations to support
(1) refugee claimant youth and (2) job seekers

10
 Relevance of existing literature
• Relatively little documented about the challenges
and outcomes of Canadian refugee claimants in
regards to:
– Housing
– Employment
– Access to health & social services

• Near absence of research on:

– How it all comes together to help shape settlement
trajectories
– Geographic mobility of refugee claimants
– Social networks influencing decisions
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 Research questions
• What factors influence asylum seekers’ decisions about
settling in Québec vs. another province? What factors
influence their choice of neighbourhood or city?

• What is the settlement trajectory (employment, housing,

social networks) of asylum seekers?

• What are the main needs expressed by asylum seekers and

what supports do they have access to? How could these
supports be improved?

• Are there differences between irregular vs. traditional asylum

seekers?
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 Elements of the project

1) Mapping of evolving policies and practices

2) Sociodemographic profile based on IRCC data
3) Structured questionnaires: 400 asylum seekers,
collaboration with community partners
4) Qualitative interviews: 40 asylum seekers (30
Montreal, 10 outside)
5) Discussion groups: frontline workers and managers

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Early findings
FOCUS GROUPS WITH COMMUNITY
ORGANIZATIONS IN QUEBEC

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 Housing challenges

• Confirmation of earlier studies:

• Lack of familiarity
• Unaffordable, small apartments
• Discrimination
• Current housing crisis
• Predatory landlords
• Critique of short (around 2 weeks) stay in
shelters
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 Employment challenges
• Confirmation of earlier studies:
• Discrimination
• Poor work conditions
• Deskilling
• Complications with work permits
• Predatory employers
• Exclusion from subsidized daycare
• No funding related to employment for
community groups
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 Geography of settlement

• Moving to new neighbourhoods

• Challenges for local organizations
• Pressure on schools
• Transportation challenges
• New interest in « regionalization »
• Demand for workers outside Montreal
• More affordable, bigger housing
• Yet fewer specialized services, far from
refugee determination infrastructure
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 Conclusion
• To date, government response has been
relatively positive
• Election on the horizon, emerging reticence
• Organizations stepping up to the challenge
• Inadequate support for their work
• Reflection necessary re: refugee claimant
settlement outside of Montreal
• Danger of using « crisis » vocabulary
• Human rights focus underscores need for
full access to social citizenship 18
 Acknowledgments
Community partners Public collaborators
TCRI CIUSSS Centre-Ouest - PRAIDA
CSAI IRCC
La Maisonnée MIDI (Immigration Quebec)
ALPA MTESS (Labour)
Immigrant Workers Centre Ministère de la famille
…more

Jill Hanley: Principal Janet Cleveland: Coordinator

Investigator
Grace Chammas Gina Lafortune Damaris Rose

Patrick Cloos Xavier Leloup Cécile Rousseau

Frédéric Dejean Annick Lenoir Mélanie Gagnon

Colin Grey Lisa Merry Michaela Hynie

Nicole Ives Garine Papazian-Zohrabian 19