OTTAWA—The agency that processes refugee claims in Canada estimated it would need almost four times as much money as it is getting to tackle a major backlog in asylum claims, caused in part by an influx of irregular migrants. ( Charles Krupa / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS )That’s the number of cases the board would need to complete to cut the backlog while also dealing with new asylum claims. The government ultimately earmarked $74 million for the IRB, over two years, in last year’s federal budget to address Canada’s refugee backlog. These irregular asylum cases, totalling over 38,000 since the beginning of 2017, accounted for about 42 per cent of the pending refugee claims at the IRB, as of May 31, according to the documents. But the IRB notes more than once in the documents that a longer-term strategy will be needed to fully clear Canada’s backlog of asylum claims.

Source: thestar January 10, 2019 22:30 UTC