In a rather quiet fashion, on June 29, 2010, Canada's Bill C-11, the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, received Royal Ascent and became law at approximately 5 pm that day. This very important piece of legislation is a step forward to try and improve Canada's refugee system in order to provide protection and refuge to those who really need it and to dissuade those who make claims without merit from doing so. Canada has had a generous refugee system for decades. The definition that has guided this system came from what is commonly called the Geneva Convention and it states: ""A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.."
Bill C-11 aims to prevent abuse of Canada's refugee system by also implementing a Designated Countries of Origin policy. "The purpose of the Designated Countries of Origin (DCO) policy, the faster processing timelines and the identification of manifestly unfounded claims is to reduce pressure on Canada’s asylum system by deterring unfounded claims, thus contributing to a system that is able to provide faster decisions to those who are in need of protection." Canada Gazette It is expected that countries like Mexico will be one of these Designated Countries of Origin. Without saying as much, Prime Minister Harper implied on more than one occasion that once Canada fixed its refugee claims system, Canada would look at the issue of visas for Mexican tourists. Recent articles and editorials in the Globe and Mail have called for the government to revisit the Mexican visa issue and lift the requirement. The government now has the tools to control and reduce bogus refugee claims. As other commentators have rightly pointed out, Mexico is Canada's third largest trading partner and part of the North American Free Trade Agreement. More than 2,000 Canadian companies have operations in Mexico.
Mexico is also a strategic country for Canada in relation to its Latin American foreign policy. Ever since the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canadian governments have paid lip service to increasing ties with Latin America. I join those who are calling on Prime Minister Harper to put some meat (ie resources) into his own stated desire to improve relationships with the countries in the Americas. Mexico is the best starting point for Canada's Latin American policy. Over 1 million Canadians visited Mexico in 2010, despite the image problems caused by the war on drugs in that country. Less than 200,000 Mexicans visited Canada in 2010 as a direct result - not of the visa requirement per se - but rather because of how difficult and involved the process to get one is. If more than 13 million Mexicans visit the USA annually (with visas) - surely Canada can receive 1/2 million visitors from Mexico every year! By the way, only Canada surpasses Mexico as top international market for the US when it comes to tourism.
It's time for Canada to lift the visa requirement for Mexican visitors (or at the very least revisit what is required to obtain a visa and how fast it's done).
Saludos,
Jaime Horwitz Rodriguez
www.cactusrock.com
