Liberal public safety minister claims Canada's immigration and refugee system is world's 'gold standard'
Gary Anandasangaree praised Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board as the 'gold standard' while speaking in the House of Commons on Monday.
On Tuesday's live stream, Sheila Gunn Reid and Lise Merle reacted to Liberal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree applauding Canada's immigration system despite widespread criticism over its failures in recent years.
Anandasangaree made the comments while attempting to defend Canada's refugee protection system after reports surfaced showing fraudulent asylum claimants are receiving 'deluxe' supplementary benefits like dental care and vision care after their asylum claims are rejected.
"Let me be very clear, Canada has one of the most robust immigration [and] refugee protection system[s] in the world. The immigration and refugee board is the gold standard by which adjudications are made towards refugee protection," he said.
Lise condemned Anandasangaree's remarks as Canadians struggle to make ends meet and mass immigration strains social services and housing.
"Talk about tone-deaf. This is one of the most pressing issues for Canadians because they've identified, correctly, that our massive increase in immigration has stressed our availability to buy affordable homes, to access health care, to allow our kids to get good educations," she said.
"Immigration has negatively impacted all of those things, and yet Gary's like 'nobody does it better than us, since 1951,'" Lise continued.
Despite Minister Anandasangaree's praise, Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board faces a massive backlog of approximately 300,000 asylum claims as of recent 2025-2026 data, contributing to prolonged delays and perceptions of an overly permissive process.
Furthermore, the system's high approval rates—reaching around 80% in recent years compared to roughly 40% in much of Europe—have drawn criticism for enabling abuse and fraud, even as the government pursues reforms like Bill C-12 to tighten controls and restore integrity.
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COMMENTS
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Bruce Atchison commented 2026-02-25 19:36:54 -0500I didn’t know there were people in parliament with a negative IQ.
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Bernhard Jatzeck commented 2026-02-25 16:03:29 -0500Liberal immigration policy since the days of PET seems to be along the lines of if you tell a good sob story, you enter the express line to citizenship.
When my parents and I came over from Europe in the 1950s, our suitability for entry and residency was closely examined. Canada at that time desperately needed skilled workers for the booming economy. My parents were journeymen and, therefore, had the qualifications that the government was looking for. I found some of the documents related to that among my father’s papers while I was settling his estate a few years ago, so coming to this country was treated seriously.
By the way, the Prime Minister at the time was Louis St.-Laurent….. a Liberal.
