In 1951, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) formally defined refugee and asylum status in separation from immigration status. Despite signing 18 years after the UNHCR’s initial introduction, Canada has remained consistently committed to the upholding of global human rights.

The UNHCR informs that asylum is a state-provided and recognized protection to people of foreign nationalities seeking safety from serious harm and persecution. Asylum is not just a status, but rather an internationally recognized human right of safety and non-refoulement: all persons in the world are innately born with the right to flee conflict, violence, persecution, and disaster. This principle affirms that signatory states must act to prevent human life from enduring torture, cruelty, degradation, and subjugation. 

The Carney government has accumulated real power over the past year amid continental security tensions and a shifting geopolitical landscape. The recent assent given to the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act and Budget 2025’s slashing of admission and care programs represent a thoughtless retreat from Canada’s leading role in global humanitarian progress. 

Where our security extends to, and where it doesn’t, will define whether Canada remains a leader in democratic and humanitarian practice or becomes a cautionary example of how quickly that leadership can erode.

The Carney government has shown a great deal of power in the past year amidst ongoing continental security tensions and changing geopolitical landscapes, but for whom that security extends to will solidify Canada’s position as a leader in democratic and humanitarian strength. 

Recent changes in Canadian asylum processing, advanced through the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act and Bill C-22 (Lawful Access Act), beg the following questions: what is the point of providing asylum? What is the advantage of a country investing its wealth into providing safe harbour for refugees? And, why is asylum now being categorized and granted on the basis of human capital value?

The catalyst behind an interconnected web of asylum programmes arose during the years following World War II. An estimated 100 million people faced displacement world-wide, with up to 65 million alone in Europe. International prosperity relies on secure, stable borders and supply chains, both of which are threatened by poorly accounted and managed migration. Even now, more than half a decade after one of the most profound displacement events in human history, the recognized advantages of asylum systems remain consistent. 

A subversive advantage to providing asylum is that recipient states would be welcoming additions to their work force. 2023 and 2024 were the most significant years of Canadian asylum provision in the 21st century, with the country receiving around 317,000 claims. During those two years, Canada’s Express Entry categories highlighted a handful of important but dwindling industries that required greater human resources: healthcare provision, skilled trades, STEM specialisation, transportation, and agriculture. Preferential treatment is almost always given to claimants able to fill those industry gaps. 

However, historical sanctuary states like Canada and the United States have changed their tune in the last decade. Asylum claims are not processed as quickly as immigration, and the skill-based and language turn-around requires greater investment for those escaping turmoil. The Labour Market Information Council and Statistics Canada highlight the “Survival Employment”........

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