Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'll tell you exactly how the issue around irregular crossings ties into the work of the IRB, because those claims need to be processed by the IRB and if the IRB doesn't have the resources to do it, they cannot do that work effectively. We do have a crisis. A woman just died trying to cross from the United States to Canada. We can stick our heads in the sand and ignore this real issue, but lives are at stake. The work of the IRB is absolutely critical, Mr. Chair, and the board needs to be funded to do that work. That's how it is relevant, Mr. Chair.
The issue of irregular crossings and the increased levels of inland refugee claims stemming from this are contributing to the current stresses on the IRB. Let us be very clear about that. In case people don't understand how that process works, there is a direct link with the IRB. Like other claims, inland asylum claims are subject to statutory timeframes to be heard, and these are contributing to the backlog. If you don't resource it, it will happen. Backlogs will occur and that is what is happening.
Since the Trump administration took office, there has been a significant spike in asylum seekers crossing from the U.S. into Canada at irregular and unauthorized border crossings. From January to April 2017, 2,719 individuals crossing in this manner have been apprehended by Canadian authorities. In all of 2016, a total of 2,464 individuals were apprehended. If this trend continues, we could expect over 8,000 such interceptions this year, over triple the amount of 2016. Imagine the impact on the IRB. If we don't get them resources to process these cases, what will happen to us? How are we going to protect the integrity of our immigration system? We cannot afford to let this happen.
It is public knowledge that the RCMP and CBSA budgets in the communities most impacted by these crossings are being stretched. The biggest impact of this might be the failure of the government to even acknowledge the issue. That undermines Canadians' faith in our system, which we cannot afford to allow happen at this time.
The argument that irregular border crossings allow asylum seekers to “cheat the system” or “jump the queue”, as some people are saying, Mr. Chair, is absolutely false. Inland refugee claimants are included in a specific category in the annual immigration levels plan. The Government of Canada has a settlement target of 15,000 protected persons in Canada, the category under which inland refugee claimants fall, in addition to the 25,000 spots reserved for government-assisted, privately sponsored and blended visa office referred refugees. Any refugees who arrive in Canada by irregular border crossings will not take away settlement opportunities for refugees attempting to come to Canada through traditional channels.
Similarly, inland refugee claims are processed according to their own statutory timeline and will not contribute to backlog in other refugee claims. But that said, each stream will have backlogs if the IRB is not resourced appropriately, and that should not continue.
The notion that irregular—