Parliamentary records reveal that hundreds of thousands of asylum claims have been filed in Canada since 2020 and that almost no one who is rejected actually leaves.

In response to an order paper question (Q-556), Immigration and Public Safety departments disclosed that about 517,000 asylum claims have been made since 2020. Of those, only 64,000 were formally rejected.

About 55,000 of those rejected claimants are still in Canada anyway. Only around 8,000 people who were refused asylum have actually left the country.

In other words, once someone makes an asylum claim in Canada, the odds of being removed even after rejection are slim.

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The figures also show that 36 American citizens were granted refugee status in Canada during that period, raising questions about how Ottawa is defining “persecution” when it comes to claimants from the United States.

The data comes from responses by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Public Safety Canada to a written question from Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, who asked how many asylum seekers were accepted, rejected and removed from Canada.

The numbers expose a system that functions less like asylum processing and more like a one-way entry door.

Under Canadian law, rejected claimants can file multiple appeals, humanitarian applications and risk assessments. These processes can take years and effectively allow them to remain in the country indefinitely, even after a negative ruling.