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There are a number of factors behind this inefficient system. Money is a big one. The report explains that “the 2012 reforms set the system’s funding at a ceiling sufficient to process 22,500 claims per year, and temporary funding was later provided to increase the capacity to about 32,000. Yet there were 55,000 asylum claims in 2018 alone.”

Then there is the basic fact that the feds have done little to stop or discourage people from crossing illegally into the country in the first place. That said, they’ve recently announced new measures to make it easier to immediately turn away those who have previously made a claim in the United States. It’s not yet known what effect, if any, this has had on the influx.

The number of people crossing illegally into Canada skyrocketed in 2017 and 2018, with approximately 20,000 people each year being intercepted by the RCMP. The 2019 numbers to date show the monthly totals are decreasing, sitting at about half that of the previous year.

While the increase in raw numbers has been well-documented, the AG report also draws attention for the first time to major efficiencies within these agencies.

For example, the agencies continue to share information by paper as opposed to quicker and less expensive digital options. “Even when claim information was available electronically, it was printed out and shared between organizations by fax or courier,” the report notes. “The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada continued to rely almost exclusively on paper files in its work.” It’s hard to believe any office environment would voluntarily choose to use a fax machine in 2019, yet they do.