Demand for help with asylum applications has tripled, Winnipeg community organization says

February 28, 2024 Canuck

A Winnipeg non-profit that helps asylum seekers claim refugee status says it’s struggling to keep up with growing demand for its services.

Healthy Muslim Families says its wait times for people looking for help with filing their asylum applications from have jumped from one week to as long as four weeks in recent months.

Humaira Jaleel, executive director for Healthy Muslim Families, said the number of people looking for help at her downtown Winnipeg offices has more than tripled in the last year.

“Our staff is working overtime, they’re doing it at home, at night, whenever because they really see the desperation,” Jaleel said. “They see the need. So they’re doing the best they can. But that’s the best we can do right now.”

According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 185 asylum claimants in Manitoba were processed this January alone, compared to just 35 in January 2023.

Jaleel said at Healthy Muslim Families, only a handful of staff help file the applications, which she said are often complicated for asylum seekers because of language barriers, lack of access to technology and missing information.

A woman sits at a table using a laptop — Nazmun Siddiqua, a facilitator who helps with asylum applications at Healthy Muslim Families, says many applicants arrive without the information required for the applications ‘because they were going through the persecution, the torture, the detention.’ (CBC)

The organization helps people from countries like Chad, Congo, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia and Ghana, who came to Canada to escape political persecution, torture, racial discrimination or other human rights violations.

“When they come here, they don’t have much information about the process of the claim, how much information they might need,” said Nazmun Siddiqua, a facilitator who helps with the applications.

“They don’t remember a lot of dates, a lot of information they don’t have any evidence [of] because they were going through the persecution, the torture, the detention.”

‘They don’t have anywhere else to go’

Asylum seekers can’t apply for employment and income assistance, a work permit or get into permanent housing until they get confirmation their application has been received.

Shelter operators in Winnipeg have told CBC News their services are under added strain due to the influx of claimants. The Salvation Army said last fall it was adding 60 beds to its Centre of Hope facility to meet the demand.

Once an asylum application is submitted, wait times vary wildly, Jaleel said. Most range between six months to a year.

After the application is filed, refugee claimants still need to attend a hearing with the Immigration Refugee Board of Canada to determine if they can stay.

A woman — Humaira Jaleel, executive director for Healthy Muslim Families, says the number of people looking for help at her downtown Winnipeg offices has more than tripled in the last year. (CBC)

“They don’t have anywhere else to go, they don’t have the paperwork to do anything — not work, find employment,” Jaleel said.

“Most of the services are not open for refugee claimants so they have really nothing to do and they’re waiting for us.”

She said the majority come on their own by crossing the U.S. border, but added there are some who are coming from other provinces like Ontario and Quebec.

“All the other cities that are helping refugee claimants have been overwhelmed. We know. We’ve seen it in the news,” she said.

“I think the word gets out so there are people who think … that sometimes if they apply from Winnipeg it will be a faster process.”

Immigration lawyer Alastair Clarke said he’s also seeing a lot of clients who start their claim in Ontario and Quebec.

“My understanding is that the processing from when you start your refugee claim to when you have your hearing in those regions is quite slow,” he said.

“They read social media, they read the news and I find that my clients are generally extremely aware of the various jurisdictions. And so they hear that Manitoba is ‘friendly Manitoba,’ that we have a good system, a supportive population for refugee claimants.”

Healthy Muslim Families helped 16 claimants submit their applications in January. The organization only has two full-time staff, a part-time worker, and a lawyer who works one day a week.

Jaleel said she doesn’t expect numbers to go down any time soon.

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