'It means everything to me': Wait times to have refugee claims heard continue to rise

After more than a year of anxious waiting, Guled Abdi Omar has just received some good news: his refugee claim has been accepted, paving the way for him to eventually become a Canadian citizen.

"I'm feeling happyI'm just shaking," Omarsaid Tuesday,moments after learning of the approval at a hearing in Winnipeg. "It was the happiest day I've ever had so far. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling relieved. God is great."

He's one of the lucky ones.His decision comes aswait times for a hearing are on the rise.

According to new data from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB),the average wait for a hearingis now 20 months or longerup from an average of16 months last October.

Omar's phone then buzzed and he answered; it was his wife, Farah, calling from Nairobi.

"They granted me asylum in Canada!" Omartold her, a big smile on his face. "I love you!"

This year alone, nearly 11,000 asylum seekers have already crossedinto Canada illegally, most of themin Quebec. It hascreated a housing crisis there, as well as in Ontario,and led to growing tensionbetween the provincial and federal governments.

"We now have to start asking government questions about how they start supporting and paying for a multitude of issues that have been created," Conservative MP and immigration critic MichelleRempelsaidearlier this week.

The flood of asylum seekers began picking up soon after the election of U.S. President Donald Trumpin November 2016;it grew further after he was sworn in and introduced controversial travel bans.

People fleeing violent hot spots around the world started looking toCanada as a place of safety, and in some cases, creating a migration route through Central America, moving north through the U.S.

Canada end of risky journey

CBC News first metOmar, along with his friend Abdikadir Ahmed Omar, in February 2017in Mexico City.

The pair was escaping death threats in Somalia and a refugee camp in Kenya, and their goal was to get around the U.S. travel ban and into Canada.

"For me, U.S.A. is not an option," AbdikadirOmar said at the time. "They're against immigrants, refugees, and especially someone like me who is a Muslim, who is black, who is Somali."

The two menjumped the fence at Tijuana and were immediately arrested by heavily armed border patrol agents. They spent two months in a detention centre near San Diego butcontinued their journey north after their release.

On Canada Day long weekend in 2017, they walked over the border into Manitoba and got a very different reception. Their first stop after being released from the port-of-entry in Emerson was a temporary reception centre in the border town of Gretna, population 500.

The community embraced them, they said, inviting them to soccer games and community gatherings.

"The first day, I felt like no one cares if I am from Somaliaor from wherever, or who is my race or what is my religion," AbdikadirOmar said at the time. "They care that I am a human person, I am a human being, and they respect that."

A non-profit agency helped them file their refugee applications and getsettled in a Winnipeg apartment.

Their IRBhearings were originally scheduled for September 2017, but were postponed for almost a yearbecause the boardwas swamped with new and legacy cases.

Frustrated and unable to find stable, good-paying jobs in Winnipeg, they moved to Alberta. Now GuledOmar is working in construction in Red Deer.

"I work sevendays, 12 hours a day. I work hard to provide for my wife and my family, and that's what I'm living forto support the country and pay the tax as a Canadian citizen," he said. "The future of my family depends on my future."

Meanwhile, AbdikadirOmar is working in the oilpatch and plans to study engineering. "I have a social sciences degree and there are not a lot of jobs like that in Canada. I can't be labourer, the bottom of food chain, forever."

But he's still anxiously awaiting his IRB hearing, scheduled for next month, andhopes it won't be postponed again.

"It means everything to me," AbdikadirOmar said this week via Skype from his work camp, about a four-hourdrive northeast of Edmonton. "It means the start of life in Canada. As a young man who wants to have a future in Canada and have a safe life in Canada, that's the main gate, the key, the entry point."

Political and logistical headache

OdaroOmonuwa, a Winnipeg-basedimmigration lawyer who represents bothGuledandAbdikadir, said he's actually seen people moving to Manitoba in a bid to speed up the processing of their claims.

"There are so many people coming across the border, so many people are moving from other provincesQuebec, Torontobecause Manitoba is not as congested. So now they're making the backlog worse here," he said.

"It's worse in Toronto. They actually sent out a letter to clients in Toronto that they shouldn't expect their hearing until after 24 months. That's why they're leaving other provinces and coming here."

Immigration officials have managed to speed up the process a bit in the past year by:

• Granting refugee protection without a hearing(expedited processing) of suitable claims from eight designated countries.
• Scheduling ofshorter hearingswhen appropriate.
• Piloting anIntegrated Claim Analysis Centreto better co-ordinate claims during the pre-hearing process.

But the backlog is still piling up.

Two years ago, there were more than 13,000 cases pending, including irregular crossings and the standard refugee claims. Last year, that number doubled to more than 26,000.

As of last month, it had quadrupled to more than 56,000 cases pending.

Omonuwa said he thinks the solution would be to better fund the boards.

"They should hire more people as judges, as members, as decision-makers," he said."When you have limited amounts of funds and very few membersor workers in this field, it's going to affect how fast your hearings will take place. And that's what's happening now."

In the 2018 federal budget, the federal government earmarked an additional $74 million over two years, part of which is being used to hire about 250 more staff.

Once all those people are trained, the IRB saidit should be able to finalize 17,000 more claims over the next two years in addition to the 24,000 cases italready processes annually. As a result, they're hopingthe average wait time for a hearing drops to 12 months.

"I'm feeling happy I'm just shaking,": Guled Abdi Omar

6 years ago

Duration 2:16

After more than a year of anxious waiting, Guled Abdi Omar has just received some good news: his refugee claim has been accepted, paving the way for him to eventually become a Canadian citizen.