Fact check: Scheer is spreading misinformation about Canada’s refugee system
On Thursday, Andrew Scheer took to Twitter to post an infographic about illegal border crossings in Canada, claiming that Trudeau has “failed to manage Canada’s immigration system” and citing the number of illegal border crossings in June 2019 is higher than that of June 2018, suggesting there is a trend.
However, according to the data put out by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), in the first five months of 2019 80 per cent of refugee claimants in Canada made their claim through official entry points. Only a small number of refugees go to Canada, which receives less than 0.3 per cent of the world’s refugee population. In 2018, refugee claimants only represented 0.15 per cent of the total Canadian population.
Scheer paints refugee claimants to be criminals and a burden on Canada – in reality, crossing the border at an unofficial entry point to claim asylum is not a punishable offence. Most refugee claimants crossing the border at unofficial entry points are fleeing violence and persecution, coming from countries at war or with serious human rights issues.
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