OTTAWA -- Nigeria has committed to helping reduce the flow of asylum seekers into Canada and has pledged to issue travel documents more quickly to its citizens who are in the process of being expelled from Canada as illegitimate refugee claimants, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said Friday.
Hussen travelled to the African nation this week as part of the Liberal government's efforts to stop asylum seekers from crossing into Canada from the United States between legal checkpoints.
The assurance over documentation was a key commitment made during meetings Hussen held with top government officials in Nigeria, the minister said in a briefing with reporters about the trip.
"I got assurances about co-operation between Canada and Nigeria on irregular migration, both in terms of helping us with the deterrence message to the Nigerian public, but also in getting travel documents, passports for people who are in the removals queue," Hussen said.
"Travel documents for Nigerian nationals who are set to be removed from Canada, but who lack travel documents."
Most of the people entering Canada from the U.S. between regular border crossings this spring have been from Nigeria, with the majority carrying valid U.S. travel visas.
One of the difficulties in dealing with the border crossers is obtaining proper documentation so they can be removed from Canada and returned to their country of origin once their asylum claims have been rejected, a process that can sometimes take years.
The goal of meetings with his direct counterpart in the Nigerian government, as well as that country's foreign affairs minister, diplomatic officials from the United States and civil society groups in Lagos and the Nigerian capital, Abuja, was to get the message across that Nigerians can't simply walk into Canada and expect to stay, said Hussen.
"There is misinformation being directed toward some Nigerian nationals and they are being told that going to Canada and crossing the border is a free ticket. So we're dispelling those myths," he said.
U.S. officials in Nigeria also provided details about how they have reduced the number of travel visas issued to Nigerians in recent months, the minister added.
"The information that Canada has been providing to the U.S. embassy in Nigeria has let to them refining their visa-issuing system to the point where their visa refusals are going up by 10 per cent or higher."
More than 7,600 people have entered Canada away from prescribed border crossings so far this year with more than half coming from Nigeria.
Among the Nigerians making claims of refugee status, about three quarters of them were carrying valid U.S. travel visas, Hussen said.
The federal government has taken heat from the Opposition over the spike in asylum claims. The Conservatives last week called on the Liberals to make global asylum claim reform an issue of debate at the upcoming G7 leaders' summit, set to take place in Charlevoix, Que.
They also want the government to declare the entire Canada-U.S. border an official point of entry -- a measure aimed at closing a perceived loophole in the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement.
That agreement allows either country to turn back refugee claimants if they have already applied for status in Canada or the United States, but only if the claims are made at official border crossings.
Canada has asked the U.S. government to consider renegotiating the agreement, but so far there has been no response from the Trump administration, Hussen said Friday.
Shelters are being erected in Quebec under an expectation that the number of asylum claimants will increase further over the summer months.
An underlying concern of the government is that an uncontrolled influx of refugee claimants into Canada could lead to resentment of legitimate immigrants and refugees as well as intolerance -- feelings that have aided in the election of populist governments in parts of the world.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touched on that worry Friday as he spoke to M.I.T. students in Boston.
"Canada is not immune to that," Trudeau said when asked by a student about the influence of populist movements, noting that, so far, Canadians are inclined to welcome newcomers rather than shun them.
