Figures reported today from the national statistics agency show the number of asylum claims in Canada nearly tripled between 2015 to 2018.

According to Statistics Canada, in 2015 when Trudeau’s Liberals won the federal election, there were about 16,000 asylum claimants.

Just two years later, that number shot up to 50,000.

It should be noted that those numbers shot up the same year that Justin Trudeau Tweeted his now infamous #WelcomeToCanada tweet.

To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 28, 2017

According to the CBC, details from the national statistics agency also show that asylum claimants tend to be younger than the general population in Canada, and most are male.

On February 12th, 2019, Statistics Canada released the census data that was collected ofthe 25,000 Syrian refugees that were accepted into Canada throughout 2015-2016.

The government of Canada made the ambitious announcement in the wake of the ongoing war in Syria that has been taking place since 2011, and the ensuing humanitarian crisis worldwide.

One of the first challenges that Prime Minister Trudeau’s governments wanted to take on was the refugee crisis.

Less than a week after taking office in October of 2015, Trudeau announced the plan to take in the 25,000 refugees, and the plan was immediately met with criticism.

Refugee settlement groups in Canada were some of the first to say that the decision was unwise.

While they applauded the goal and the good intentions, they feared it was too much, too fast. The government consulted with representatives of major refugee agencies on how to proceed, based on their capabilities at the time.

“Providing more time for this large resettlement movement will lead to better resettlement outcomes,” said Chris Friesen, the president of the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance.

Friesen was part of a conference call when federal officials were urged to stretch their future Liberal bosses’ ambitions out over a slightly longer horizon.

“Reconsider the time frame, keep the number but let’s do it over 2016 to the end of 2016,” he told CBC News.

“Twenty-five thousand over two months is problematic.”

The Trudeau government proceeded with those targets anyway.

