Canadas immigration reputation: Charting the Tories commitment to taking inrefugeesSyrian refugees stand outside their tents during a sandstorm, in a refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015.Syrian refugees stand outside their tents during a sandstorm, in a refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015.Monika Warzecha|September 9, 2015As the world grapples with the Syrian refugee crisis, critics are questioning Prime Minister Stephen Harpers characterization of Canada as a country with the most generous immigration and refugee system in the world.Over the last decade, the country has shifted more of its focus to privately sponsored refugees and curbed the overall amount of refugees that go on to become permanent residents in Canada.

Between January 2014 and Aug. 24, 2015, Canada has resettled 2,374 Syrian refugees. About 26 per cent were government-assisted refugees and roughly 73 per cent sponsored privately.

Its basically a matter of whos footing the bill, says Janet Dench, Executive Director of the Canadian Council for Refugees. She takes issue with the Canadian government taking credit for resettling refugees when, by and large, its private citizens who are sponsoring and supporting Syrians.

By Denchs estimate, a family of two parents and two children could cost around $30,000 to set up for one year if the parents are unable to find work.

The government has a resettlement assistance program and people get income support as well as support from organizations in terms of orienting them, she says.If theyre privately sponsored, its up to the private sponsors to pay all of that, welcome them at the airport and help their kids get registered at school.

Theres also a new joint measure through the federal governments Blended Visa Office Referred Refugee program: the government pays the first six months of income support and a private sponsor will provide another six months of financial support and up to a year of social and emotional support.

The total amount of privately sponsored refugees, regardless of source country, has risen from 2,976 in 2005 to a peak of 6,269 in 2013, when there were more privately sponsored refugees settled in Canada than those assisted by the government.Since 2005, Canada has resettled between 5,412 and 7,573 government-assisted refugees from around the globe a year, numbers that are mostly in line with the countrys yearly targets. However, there have been calls from the international community for countries to take in more refugees.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration released their Report on Plans and Priorities for 2015 and 2016. The target for government-assisted refugees was between 5,800 and 6,500 per calendar year. The target in the previous years report was 6,900 to 7,200.

That total amount of refugees in Canada has also fallen, in part because of a drop in refugees landed in Canada that go on to become permanent residents. These are claimants who arrive in the country and then apply for refugee status, as opposed to applying while still overseas.

Experts believe the drop was due to the Conservative governments sweeping immigration reforms in 2012.

One of the most controversial measures is known as irregular arrivals designation. This puts more power into the hands of the Minister of Public Safety, who can detain refugee claimants if their identity is unconfirmed and there are reasonable grounds to suspect the arrival involves human smuggling, or in support of a criminal organization, or terrorist group.

They cant appeal to the Refugee Appeal Division at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada and cant apply to become permanent residents for a minimum of five years.

In a 2012 news release detailing the new reforms, Vic Toews, then the Minister of Public Safety, explained the reasoning behind the rules.

Human smuggling is a dangerous and despicable crime it puts lives at risk and threatens the integrity of Canadas immigration system as well as the security and safety of Canadians.

Thats why weve taken action to make Canada a less attractive destination for these criminal ventures.RelatedWhats enough? Whats enough?: Harper fires back when asked if Canada is doing enough for migrants

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Idil Atak, a professor at Ryerson University and the president of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, says its all part of a global trend of criminalizing asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. They are labelled as criminals, as abusers of the system or queue jumpers. She notes that many of the restrictive rules came out in the aftermath of Sept. 11, as well as the boat arrivals of Sri Lankan Tamils in B.C. in 2009 and 2010.

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) currently has the power to detain a migrant who is considered a flight risk, or if there are security concerns or difficulties in establishing the persons identity.

According to a recent report from the University of Torontos Faculty of Law, over 7,300 migrants were detained in 2013, with a third of the detentions occurring in facilities intended for a criminal population. Canada also has no time limits for how long an individual can be detained for immigration reasons. There are reports of some people being detained for years.

Since the drowning of three-year-old Alan Kurdi in Turkey, Canadas refugee system and the treatment of migrants around the world is very much in the spotlight. Atak says the increased focus on the humanitarian side of the migrant crisis is promising.We realized suddenly that these are human beings and these are women and kids who are drowning and losing their lives. Its balancing a bit the very restrictive and repressive policies and discourse against migrants and asylum seekers, she says.Posted byThavam