Every year more than 30,000 refugees seek protection in Canada under two main plans i.e. Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program administered outside Canada and the In-Canada Refugee Protection Process.The majority of approved refugees are granted asylum status inside Canada and make their claim at a Canadian port of entry or at an inland Canada Immigration Centre office.A convention refugee is a person:
- who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.
- A person in need of protection is a person in Canada whose removal to their country of nationality or former habitual residence would subject them to the possibility of torture, risk of life, or risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.
Once a IRCC officer decides that a refugee protection claimant is eligible to be referred, the claim is sent to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) where a hearing takes place before an independent tribunal comprised of Refugee Protection Division members who determine whether the claimant is a convention refugee or a person in need of protection.