VZCZCXRO4699
OO RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHQU RUEHVC
DE RUEHOT #0774/01 1611753
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 091753Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7993
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 1319
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 1840
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE PRIORITY 0160
RUEAORC/US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USNORTHCOM  PRIORITY
RUEADRO/HQ ICE DRO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000774 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PREL CO MX HA CA
SUBJECT: ASYLUM CLAIMS FROM THE AMERICAS 
 
REF: OTTAWA 645 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Mexican citizens are now the largest 
single nationality claiming asylum in Canada, increasingly 
citing narco-violence instead of sexual discrimination. 
Haiti, Colombia, and the United States follow as source 
countries; the four countries account for 50% of asylum 
claims in Canada.  Colombian and Haitian claimants are 
notably more successful than Mexicans, since many of the 
claims of drug-related persecution appear not to be credible. 
 An increasingly mobile Mexican middle class seeking 
opportunities elsewhere as well as loopholes in the 
U.S.-Canada Third Country Agreement present continued 
bilateral challenges.  End summary. 
 
THE MEXICAN/CANADIAN AXIS 
------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada's 
(CIC) Asylum Policy Program, Canada since 2005 has seen more 
asylum claims from Mexican citizens than from any other 
nationality (reftel), receiving more than 7,000 Mexican 
claims in 2007 and an additional 2,400 claims in the first 
four months of 2008 alone, up from only 2,900 in 2004.  Among 
2008 claimants, approximately 53% applied at airports, 45% 
applied inland, and only 1% applied at a land border.  CIC 
attributes the rise in Mexican asylum claims -- especially at 
airports -- to the growing Mexican middle class, which is 
able to fly to Canada in search of better economic 
opportunities.  There are also increasing numbers of 
temporary foreign workers from Mexico in Canada, who often 
also seek to remain permanently. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Discrimination based on sexual orientation had been 
the most common claim of applicants in 2005, but increasingly 
the claims cite risk of life, torture, or punishment due to 
drug-related violence.  One Canadian psychiatrist described 
to poloff a sharp rise over the past two years in Mexican 
patients claiming post-traumatic stress disorder; virtually 
all cases appear spurious.  Overall, Canada accepts only 
approximately 10% of Mexican applicants -- a low rate 
compared to applicants from other countries.  The highest 
percent of successful claims is related to domestic violence 
-- usually involving women who say Mexican police have failed 
to protect them from abusive husbands, sometimes even 
assisting in the abuse.  Canada's Immigration and Refugee 
Board (IRB), an independent administrative tribunal, sent a 
fact-finding mission to Mexico in November 2006 to determine 
the credibility of claims related to witnesses of crimes, 
public-sector corruption, domestic violence, and 
discrimination based on sexual orientation.  In February 
2007, researchers issued guidelines to help adjudicators 
determine the validity of claims, and the approval rates have 
subsequently declined. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Some Mexicans submit asylum claims when they first 
arrive in Canada, but withdraw them after they receive 
authorization to work or study; Mexicans also have the 
highest rate of abandonment of applications.  The Safe Third 
Country Agreement does not apply to individuals already in 
Canada or those who arrive by air or water -- or if an 
applicant has a relative who is a Canadian citizen, permanent 
resident, or protected person, or, in some cases, who has a 
work or study permit. 
 
¶5. (SBU) According to the Mexican Embassy, the Mexican 
Q5. (SBU) According to the Mexican Embassy, the Mexican 
government believes that Canada's acceptance rate of Mexican 
asylum seekers is "unreasonably high," and that the vast 
majority of claims are not credible. 
 
AND THEN HAITI AND COLOMBIA 
--------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Haiti is the second largest source of asylum claims 
in Canada.  Haitians, who are protected by a moratorium on 
deportations from Canada and thus also are not subject to the 
Safe Third Country Agreement, submitted 3,713 asylum claims 
in Canada in 2007.  During the first four months of 2008, an 
additional 1,371 Haitians submitted asylum claims, of whom 
93% arrived via the U.S.  Virtually all Haitians claiming 
asylum in Canada have lived in the U.S. for a number of years 
and have relatively high socio-economic status.  Canada 
accepts approximately 40% of Haitian asylum claims. 
 
 
OTTAWA 00000774  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Colombia is Canada's third largest source of asylum 
claims.  Canada accepted 1,013 claims in the first four 
months of 2008, of whom 55% submitted inland and 42% at a 
land border.  Asylum claims from Colombia have risen 91% in 
the first five months of 2008, compared with the first five 
months of 2007.  Canada approves a relatively high percent of 
Colombian asylum claimants -- approximately 60%.  Colombian 
asylum-seekers range from low-level workers employed by drug 
cartels, to upper-class Colombians.  The majority of cases 
involve claims related to narco-violence and instability. 
According to the Colombian Embassy, most claimants come from 
conflict zones and include former military, para-militaries, 
and individuals fleeing violence.  The Colombian government 
accepts that many have a legitimate fear of persecution, 
while believing that most could probably find a region of 
Colombia where they would not be in harm's way.  Some in the 
44,000-person Colombian community in Canada have recently 
begun to return to Colombia as the violence abates, leading 
the Colombian Embassy to predict that the Canadian government 
will be more restrictive with claimants in the future. 
 
EVEN FROM THE U.S. 
------------------ 
 
¶8. (SBU) Asylum seekers from the U.S. are also on the rise in 
Canada, representing the fourth highest source of claims. 
Nearly 1,000 U.S. citizens filed asylum claims in Canada in 
2007, and 794 more have submitted claims during the first 
four months of 2008.  The majority of American claimants were 
children of parents who had been living in the U.S. 
illegally, and eventually decided to claim asylum in Canada, 
along with their children.  The majority of these families 
were originally from Haiti or Colombia, so some of the 
statistics might double-count them.  While Canada initially 
classifies the U.S. citizen children as U.S. claimants, later 
in the adjudication process it groups family members together 
in one case, rendering it impossible to calculate the exact 
percent of purely U.S. claims.  The IRB, however, estimated 
that Canada approves approximately only 5% of U.S. citizen 
asylum claims.  About 40 claims have come from U.S. soldiers 
fleeing the Iraq war, but Canada had not approved any, and 
the Canadian Supreme Court recently rejected deserters' 
claims to asylum. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) The cross-border travel of many of these claimants 
highlights the need for continued close coordination between 
the U.S. and Canada on these policies -- as well as some 
notable loopholes in the Safe Third Agreement -- as continued 
challenges to both governments seeking to help legitimate 
claimants while stopping bogus asylum shoppers. 
 
Visit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at 
http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/can ada 
 
BREESE