Refugees in Canada
History of Refugees
There is a long-standing tradition in many cultures of offering refuge to those fleeing persecution. In Europe during the Middle Ages people could seek sanctuary in a church and giving sanctuary was considered a sacred act. Americans fleeing slavery were given protection in Canada in the days before the US Civil War.
Although there have always been people fleeing oppression, it wasn't until after WWII that world governments recognized the need to create formal legal obligations for countries to accept refugees. Prior to World War II there was no legal distinction between immigrants and refugees, and even today many people are unsure of the difference between the two. (Who is a refugee?)
The 1951 Refugee Convention defined a refugee as someone who has well-founded fear of persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group or political opinion.
Major regional bodies have attempted to refine and extend the concept of refugee. In 1969 the Organization for African Unity (OAU) and in 1984 the Organization of American States (OAS) extended the refugee definition to people fleeing generalized violence in those regions.
Today the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the international organization that safeguards the rights of refugees, estimates that there are 12 million refugees and over 6.3 million "internally displaced" people who are in need of protection.
The History of Refugees in Canada
In recent years Canada has enjoyed a relatively strong reputation as a welcoming country for refugees. In the past, this has not always been the case.
Anti-Semitic immigration policy proved deadly in the years leading up to World War II, when European Jews were refused entrance into Canada. In 1939 the ship, "St. Louis", left Germany carrying over 900 European Jews seeking refuge and protection on the other side of the Atlantic. They were refused entry everywhere, including Canada. The ship had to return to Europe, where most of the passengers later died in Nazi concentration camps.
After the Second World War, Canada began accepting displaced persons. For the next twenty-five years, many refugees were admitted in groups under ad hoc arrangements. It was not until 1967 that Canada ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Cold war politics greatly influenced the selection of refugees. People seeking refuge in the West had a greater chance of finding protection if they were fleeing from Communist countries. People fleeing countries with close military or political ties to the West had a much more difficult time.
The 1976 Canadian Immigration Act formally distinguished between refugees and immigrants and set out a claim determination system for refugees. It also established a program through which Canadians could privately sponsor refugees.
Canada was awarded the Nansen medal in 1986 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for its contribution to the protection of refugees. This award acknowledged the support by individual Canadians of the private refugee sponsorship program, which enjoyed huge popularity in the late 1970's and early 1980's.
Over 700,000 individuals have been offered refugee protection in Canada since World War II.
The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act replaced the Immigration Act on June 28, 2002. In 2003 Canada took steps to implement a "safe third country" agreement with the United States which will effectively deny claimants the right to make a refugee claim in one country if they have already passed through the other.
As these changes are newly-created or not yet implemented, the true effect of changes to Canadian refugee law remain to be seen.
