Fact-checking the refugee crisis: Chris Alexander calls Canada 'model of humanitarian action'

[Joe Shlabotnik]

...snip

In 2013, Canada accepted 1,063 Syrian refugees. The Conservatives insisted that refugees be prioritized based on religious or ethnic grounds, a policy that many have called discriminatory. The government failed to meet their commitment to accept 1,300 refugees in 2014. In January 2015, Alexander promised that Canada would accept 3,300 Syrian refugees per year for three years. Between January 1 and June 10, 2014, only 58 private sponsorship applications had been approved.

The Conservatives have drastically changed how Canada accepts refugees. They have relied more on private sponsorships than government sponsorships, and the bureaucratic measures that have been added to the application process are slowing the speed with which claimants are accepted. Under the Conservatives, in 2014 Canada fell from fifth place to 16th in the list of top refugee-receiving countries.

The Harper Conservatives tried to eliminate access to healthcare for refugees, they placed billboards in countries warning people to not seek asylum in Canada, and border agents have been placed in airports around the world to stop refugees from boarding planes to Canada. Canada doesn't even accept refugees who arrive from our principle border: an agreement signed in 2004 allows Canada to turn all refugee claimants from the U.S. back to the U.S.

Since the Conservatives took office, 87,000 migrants have been jailed in Canada as they waited to be processed, including nearly 1,000 children. Canada is the only Western country that jails migrants in the same facilities as people serving criminal sentences.

From http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/fact-check/2015/09/fact-checking-conservatives-refugee-policies