Canada offers refugee protection to some people in Canada who fear persecution or who would be in danger if they had to leave. According to Canadian immigration law, to obtain refugee status, refugee applicants must be “Convention Refugee” or “ person in need of protection” .
Refugee Protection Criteria:
- Convention refugees： outside their home country or the country they normally live in. They’re not able to return because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, political opinion, nationality or being part of a social group
- Person in need of protection: a person in Canada who can’t return to their home country safely. This is because, if they return, they may face danger of torture, risk to their life, risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment
Safe Third Country Agreement:
Canada has an agreement with the US that says people who want to make a refugee claim must do so in the first safe country they arrive in. This means, if you enter Canada from the US at a land border, you can’t make a refugee claim in Canada.
The following are examples of circumstances which may lead to a person being deemed a refugee:
- A human rights activist who is persecuted by the state for her criticism of government abuses
- A union leader who is threatened with violence by businesses who enjoy tacit support from the government
- A member of a religion who is being suppressed by the government
- A woman who is subjected to repeated physical abuse by her husband in a country where conjugal violence is condoned
- A member of an ethnic group who is persecuted by the state
- A teacher in a country where intellectuals are denounced as traitors of the people
- A person who openly criticizes a rebel group in a country where the government cannot protect its citizens against rebel attack
- A person who is persecuted because he is suspected of opposing the government, even though he is not politically active
- The witness of a massacre committed by the military that the government wants to cover up
- A student activist after the government has suppressed a student movement
