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By Pierre Van Wolleghem
CIPS Working Paper, December 2023

• This working paper explores the tension between the two faces of asylum policy in Canada—orderly resettlement vs. spontaneous asylum applications—in the light of the irregular crossings at Roxham Road over the past few years.
• First, it illustrates the country’s financial and operational contribution to the international protection regime. Second, it elaborates on Canada’s reluctance to admit spontaneous asylum applications. It also summarizes the consequences of the recent renegotiation of the Safe Third Country Agreement with the US; namely, the inadmissibility of asylum claims on Canadian soil and the human rights violation it may entail. Finally, it examines available data on public opinion regarding immigration and asylum with a view to understand where people stand on the trade-off between reducing irregular crossings and upholding the protection of human rights and ask whether asylum has become a commodity in Canadian politics.
• It concludes with a tentative answer to the question posed in the title: Canada’s handling of irregular crossings casts doubts on the ability of the country to act as international protection champion.

Pierre Van Wolleghem has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Milan, Italy. He currently works as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bergen, Norway, where he occupies the function of Executive Scientific Coordinator at the research organization PROTECT: the right to international protection. Pierre’s research interests revolve around migration and social policy, political behaviour, and comparative politics. He is also passionate about research design and quantitative methods. He has previously worked as a consultant for various public administrations in Europe. He also conducted research for the Italian National Institute for the Analysis of Public Policy, the research branch of the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies.

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