How long should Canada take to decide whether to grant refugee status to a man who was convicted in Mozambique for leading a death squad that executed a prominent, crusading journalist? A few days? Weeks? Four months?
Prime Minister Paul Martin should be asking some questions.
The case of Anibal dos Santos is one to make even staunch advocates of a generous refugee process cringe.
Dos Santos was found guilty of killing journalist Carlos Cardoso in 2000. He got 28 years. He escaped jail and turned up in May at Pearson International Airport. He filed a refugee claim saying he was wrongfully convicted, is appealing and would face persecution if sent home. Months later, his case drags on. Why?
When dos Santos escaped custody before his trial in 2002 and fled to South Africa, they promptly sent him back. Does Canada's Immigration Refugee Board have reason to offer asylum now that he has been convicted? And how long will this case take? There's reason to wonder.
Convicted Palestinian terrorist Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad has been here since 1988, fighting deportation. He's now arguing he should stay because he needs medicare.
And Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel, expelled from the United States last year, has spent 18 months fighting deportation.
Other notorious undesirables, ordered deported, have tied up the courts with appeals, or are missing.
Martin should order his officials to identify prominent cases, and to deal with them quickly to prevent the system from falling into total disrepute.
Canada is a nation of immigrants, and sheer self-interest dictates that we welcome many more, including more refugees. But we need a system that weeds out bogus claims fast, and which expeditiously deports those deemed unwelcome here.
Canada "finalized" more than 42,000 refugee claims last year, accepting just under 18,000. But there is a backlog of 40,000 cases. And it takes 14 months on average to get a decision. That is too long.
And there is more. There was a big 36,000-person gap last year between the number of removal orders issued and the confirmed removals.
Dubious claims clogging the courts. Deportation orders not executed. And thousands of lost tracks.
Canadians deserve much better.
TORONTO STAR - 28.09.2004
