“This (law) is the most significant rollback of refugee rights in Canada in over a decade,” said Adam Sadinsky of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers. “It’s disappointing that Canada has joined other countries in a race to the bottom in terms of protection of rights for migrants and vulnerable people.”

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[–] BinzyBoi@piefed.ca 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I can understand this, but I can't help but worry about friend of mine from Ukraine who came here through a work permit and has been trying to get refugee status since then at the risk of being sent back now that their permit has expired. They didn't apply as a refugee initially since they came here a few months before the invasion.

They've told me the struggles with the waitlists, and it just sounds so frustrating. I understand student visa fraud being an issue, but doing a blanket cutoff like this will put lives at risk.

[–] wampus@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

At a personal level, there's going to be shitty situations all around. As noted, I personally have relatives who've been on waiting lists for years for things like basic mobility issues, which is significantly lowering their quality of life (like, they can't really go out at all, they're just stuck waiting). That's largely the result of the health care system being overwhelmed by the surge in population. So not cutting off immigration surges, and not curtailing this sort of thing, is putting local/Canadian lives at risk.

Again, shitty to hear about your friend -- and I know looking at aggregates doesn't really make that any less shitty on a personal level. Best of luck, hopefully they can stay.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 0 points 1 day ago

Theoretically, the government canceling thousands of claims will reduce the waitlist for the claims they don't cancel. Hopefully they keep an exception for Ukrainian refugees, because Canada seems to be pretty good about supporting Ukraine if I'm not mistaken.

I hope your friend's claim doesn't get canceled and that they get to stay. It sucks for the rest of the people whose claims are getting rejected, but narrowing the scope might help Canada better serve a smaller, more manageable number of refugees.

Again, this is theoretical. I don't know the details. I just hope they're not rejecting any Ukrainians' requests for refugee status...