On the same page in the report, although this is repeated in several places... Protected persons in Canada are those who come here and apply for refugee status. As for dependents abroad, that would be the family of these individuals who comes here later on to join them.
We could consider that the total number of these individuals who arrive alone or who are accompanied by their family remains constant. For example, if a family of four arrives here by boat or a single person arrives by boat and then sends for the three members of his or her family, that works out to being the same thing. Would I be correct in saying that?