Human rights advocates are incensed at a new report alleging that Prime Minister Stephen Harper ordered immigration officials to stop bringing in Syrian refugees to Canada earlier this spring.

The Globe and Mail revealed on Thursday that Harper demanded the immigration ministry — the department in charge of the file — halt processing the claims from some UN-referred Syrian refugees so that he and his office could vet their applications. It's unclear when the stop was lifted.

Harper insists that his staff weren't involved in examining the refugee files, but confirmed to CBC News that his government did order an audit of certain cases.

"The audit we asked for earlier this year was to ensure that these policy objectives are being met. Political staff are never involved in approving refugee applications" Harper said.

Canada's response to the refugee crisis became a hot topic in the ongoing tight federal election after the photo of a young toddler washed onto a Turkish beach went viral. The boy's family had tried to migrate to Canada, but were denied entry. The Conservatives were slammed for not doing more to alleviate the plight of the more than four million Syrians that have been forced to flee their homes as refugees.

"As a result of the halt, and the additional layers of scrutiny, families that had fled Syria and were judged by the United Nations refugee agency to be in need of resettlement had to wait longer to find refuge in Canada," the newspaper reported. Around that time, an audit of all refugees referred to the government by the United Nations between 2014 and 2015 was ordered.

Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said in a written statement that Harper's office wanted to audit the applications of a group of Syrian refugees to "ensure the integrity of our refugee referral."

Alexander defended the move as a "prudent step to ensure the integrity of our refugee referral system."

"The processing of Syrian Government Assisted Refugees resumed only after there was confidence that our procedures were adequate to identify those vulnerable persons in most need of protection while screening out threats to Canada," the statement continued, pointing out that private sponsorship of refugees continued during the audit.

However, refugee rights advocates say the news exposes deep-rooted problems with Canada's refugee system that has been plagued with delays and political interference.

"We are in shock by this," Loly Rico, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees, told VICE News. Rico says the news hits home because she and her husband came to Canada as refugees from El Salvador 25 years ago, sponsored by the government.

"The prime minister is overstepping his role. His role is to oversee nationally, not to review files. You cannot mix politics. It needs to be clear that the selection process and resettlement for refugees is based on humanitarian grounds and not on politics," she said.

"Canada is losing their leadership on protection of refugees and this is confirmation that government doesn't have interest in improving that."

She added that Harper's involvement with the refugee applications could explain why the Canadian government has brought in so few Syrian refugees, at such a slow rate.

Opposition leaders Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair took shots at Harper while campaigning on Thursday afternoon.

"This government has always behaved in an irresponsible manner and interferes," said Trudeau, leader of the Liberal Party.

Mulcair, of the NDP Party, demanded Harper apologize for his role in blocking Syrian refugees. "That is abject behavior," he said. "He had already done that before he appeared before us to emote talking about his own family after seeing the body of that little child on that beach in Turkey."

Harper has yet to speak out about the report and did not immediately respond to request for comment from VICE News.

So far, an estimated 2,500 Syrian refugees have been resettled in Canada. The Conservatives have pledged to grow that to 10,000 by 2017.

According to numbers from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 308 Syrian refugees referred to Canada have been issued visas this year. That's a fraction of the 1,513 Syrian refugees sponsored by private groups and churches that have successfully received visas.

A spokesperson for the UNHCR Canada told VICE News it did not have any comment on the matter.