The compelling short film, “Seeking Refuge: Ana’s Story”, was made last year by a long-time activist Erin Shaw. The film documents the enormity of injustice faced by Mexican asylum seekers in Canada, who are denied refuge on the pretense that Mexico is a safe democracy.
From our own research, we have charted the dramatic rise and fall of aslyum seekers entering Canada. From 2005 to 2010, a total of 33,826 Mexicans filed refugee claims in Canada, making Mexico the top source country for what Citizenship and Immigration Canada refers to as the “humanitarian population”. Mexican refuge claims peaked at nearly 9,500 in 2008, then fell dramatically to 647 by 2011, following the introduction of a visa requirement for people departing Mexico for Canada by air. People seeking refuge at Canada’s border with the United States, but have an immediate family member greet them and have their refugee claim application approved in principal, before they can enter Canada under the Canada-United States Third Safe Country Agreement.
Considering the triple threat of 1) ensuing insecurity in regions of Mexico and lack of protection from gender-based violence, 2) the immigration crisis in the United States, and 3) changes in Canadian immigration law that now place Mexico on a “safe country list” for refugees, it’s hard to imagine what options people facing violence in Mexico have at this time.
This transnational problem calls for collaboration across borders: justice for women facing violence in Mexico, regularization of thousands of undocumented immigrants in the United States, and the eradication of the “safe country” list in Canada (among other things), so that each individual’s refugee claim can have an opportunity to be reviewed fairly.