Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 1st, 2026

Evidence of meeting #35 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was seekers.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Provincial Distribution of Asylum Seekers in Canada

Members speaking

Before the committee

Johnston Councillor, City of Calgary, As an Individual

Bercovitch Sadinsky Vice-President, Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers

Sreenivasan Co-Executive Director, Canadian Council for Refugees

Scott Assistant Deputy Minister, Social Programs, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Hollmann Director General, Asylum Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

11:40 a.m.

Liberal

Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London Centre, ON

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Sadinsky, I'll begin with you. Thank you for being here today.

You've talked about the challenges created with respect to the lack of legal aid services. What would be a good framework to look at? What kind of recommendations would you put forward to this committee that would alleviate the situation?

11:40 a.m.

Vice-President, Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers

Adam Bercovitch Sadinsky

Ideally, you'd want the same level of services on offer in all jurisdictions in the country. I've mentioned some of the more difficult places for claimants to settle. These would be places where there's no legal aid or where it's so little that claimants may not be able to find counsel.

There are other provinces that do it well. In Ontario, there is a robust legal aid system. Now, I will say that in 2018, the Government of Ontario ceased funding refugee legal aid services entirely. The federal government stepped in and now provides 100% of that funding. This was critical, considering that the largest proportion of refugee claimants in the country goes to Ontario. The federal government stepped in, provided federal funding and allowed Legal Aid Ontario to continue funding those services where their provincial government decided they wouldn't.

In Ontario, we would say there is adequate funding for counsel. The number of hours that counsel are able to work on claims is sufficient. There's also funding for the translation of documents. In British Columbia, for example, legal aid will fund only 400 dollars' worth of translation of documents. These documents are critical for a refugee claim and for a person to corroborate what they're saying. If we're talking about who's a genuine refugee, the best way for a person to establish what they've faced, in addition to their own testimony, is third party evidence. When those documents are in other languages and need to be translated, the cost can sometimes be prohibitive for clients. They have to decide among the critical documents they have—which ones they can afford to translate and which ones they can't.

In terms of a national framework, you want it to be the same across the country.

June 1st, 2026 / 11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London Centre, ON

Thank you, Mr. Sadinsky. Maybe we can speak afterwards, because my time is limited.

I want to ask Ms. Sreenivasan a question with the remaining time.

What do you make of this competition discourse, for lack of a better phrase? On the face of it, I take the point that was just raised a few minutes ago. If you see an increased number of refugee claimants going to communities that are already under strain for a variety of reasons, relating to the economy or any number of factors, you end up seeing a competition develop between claimants and local residents. What do you make of that point of view?

11:45 a.m.

Co-Executive Director, Canadian Council for Refugees

Gauri Sreenivasan

The framing is not where we start. I think most people in Canada want everyone to have a safe roof over their heads. The critical point about how we relieve pressure on the shelter system is to create dedicated housing for refugee claimants.

In fact, refugee claimants experience the same homelessness crisis that many people in Canada are experiencing. The evidence and data show that it is far more efficient in dollars—as well as in terms of lives and compassion—to ensure that there are transitional shelters available for claimants, with wraparound support services built with people who know what these populations need. We've just heard that these populations need fairly specific services.

I have felt in my heart, and have been very moved by, people speaking who run homeless shelters in Canadian cities. They want to provide help to refugee claimants. They don't feel adequately equipped to do it. They're used to dealing with other kinds of unhoused populations. We know that the same dollars spent on dedicated refugee claimant housing can essentially help solve the homelessness crisis by easing the pressure on city shelters. We're spending money far more efficiently there than on emergency hotels.

I actually think it's a false competition. What we need is a smart use of resources so that the needs of populations are met where they're at. That will require dedicated transitional housing for refugee claimants as well as key supports for our city shelters.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London Centre, ON

Thank you very much.

11:45 a.m.

Bloc

The Vice-Chair Bloc Alexis Deschênes

Now it's my turn to take the floor for two and a half minutes.

Mr. Johnston, I understood from your testimony that public services in Calgary are under significant strain and that, if there were more asylum seekers, you would be concerned that this would require additional effort. As you know, there is a homelessness crisis in Montreal, as well as a housing crisis.

I'd like to know if you agree with the principle that each province, in keeping with its duty of solidarity, should receive an equitable share of asylum seekers, for example, in proportion to its share of the population in the Canadian federation. Do you have any arguments against this principle?