the CanadaVisa Team - 21 July, 2015
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in Guadalajara, Mexico, meeting with President of the United States Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon in the annual North American Leaders Summit.
A major issue the leaders are discussing this year is Canada’s recent decision to impose Temporary Resident Visas on Mexican nationals.In July, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Canada Minister Jason Kenney announced that Mexican and Czech nationals would need visas for temporary visits to Canada, citing an overwhelming number of refugee claims from those two countries.
At the Summit, Harper stressed that the reason for the new requirements was the number of refugee claims Canada has been receiving from Mexico, most of which are rejected as unfounded. He said that the burden placed on the system by these unfounded claims is damaging to legitimate refugee claimants.
"We had been facing over the past several years, and particularly this year, a rise in the number of bogus refugee claimants coming from Mexico,” Harper said.
Harper said that his government will be introducing a plan in the Canadian Parliament to reform Canada’s system for processing refugee claims, which would speed up the processing times of for claims and reduce the number of bogus claims in the system.
“Parliament should be seized with this issue, and I hope our Parliament will take advantage of the attention that's been brought on this issue to deal with this problem," Harper said.
Harper said that the visa requirements will remain in place as long as the bogus refugee claims persist, and that the current refugee policy in Canada “can’t continue.”
"The visa imposition is a reflection of the fact we're getting bogus refugee claims made in Canada, because our refugee system -- as it exists now -- invites that and we've got to get that changed," said Canadian Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, who is also in Guadalajara.
