Canada continues to review Syrian refugee claims as European nations pause intake

OTTAWA — Canada will continue evaluating the asylum claims of people who have fled Syria, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Tuesday, even as some European countries are pausing those claims after the fall of the Assad regime.

Miller said Canada’s asylum system isn’t seeing the same pressure as European counterparts such as Germany and Austria.

“We don’t face that flow in Canada, I don’t know what rank they occupy in terms of source countries for asylum seekers, but it’s pretty low,” Miller said.

Canada has just shy of 1,600 pending refugee claims from Syria as of Sept. 30. Germany has more than 47,000 pending refugee claims from the country.

Syrian President Bashar Assad fled the country on Sunday and is reportedly in Russia after opposition forces seized the capital Damascus.

Assad’s family had been in power for 50 years, and this marked a dramatic end to his 14-year rule that was characterized by a brutal civil war.

There are 28 other countries that have more pending claims before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. India tops the list, with more than 30,000 claims that need to be processed.

While Assad is no longer in power in Syria, there are still questions about what the future holds for the country.

Miller said the board will continue to monitor its approval criteria for claims coming from Syria.

“The Immigration and Refugee Board assesses and reassesses on a constant basis the reason for people to claim asylum, so that’s something that I think we will monitor carefully,” Miller said.

Since 2015, more than 100,000 Syrian refugees have been resettled in Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2024.

— With files from The Associated Press

David Baxter, The Canadian Press