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OTTAWA — A backlog of “legacy” refugee claims filed by applicants who have been waiting over seven years to find out if they can remain in Canada will soon be cleared, as Ottawa now turns its attention to an even bigger backlog of fresh asylum claims.

The old list of stagnating cases one point stood at 32,000 claims and Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen was eager to shine a spotlight this week on his government’s successful efforts at cutting it to almost nothing.

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The people whose cases have been on that list came to Canada seeking refugee protection prior to December 2012. That’s when the Conservatives, then in power, established new 60-day deadlines for refugee hearings. That left the 32,000 cases already in the system to be bumped to lower priority for scheduled hearings because they were already late.

Thanks to the efforts of a special task force struck to deal specifically with legacy cases, only a handful remain. The one per cent that are left have been suspended, have already had hearings and are awaiting decisions or are scheduled to be heard between now and July.