As Mr. Fleury said before me, the U.S. has a very well-developed system for refugee status determination. In 2005, the U.S. received the second highest number of asylum seekers in the world. Their recognition rate was not too different from Canada's. Last year, nearly 49,000 asylum applicants were lodged in the U.S., about two and a half times the number lodged in Canada. So their system is quite developed; many seek and are granted asylum there. Again, their recognition rate is comparable to Canada's.
I wouldn't want to compare recognition rates between the North American countries and Europe, because they have different regimes in place in Europe. One aspect of the European system is a system known as temporary protection, by which they allow you to stay temporarily until such time as the conditions of your country of origin change and you can go back. For example, in the case of the refugees from Kosovo, they allowed the Kosovars to stay for a few years. Then when conditions in Kosovo changed, the people were encouraged to return.
In Canada, you don't have a temporary protection regime; you're either in or you're out. I wouldn't want to compare two systems that are not comparable, but both are sound and valid.