COMPASS Refugee Centre is pleased to have Riley Macnab, a law student from the University of Western Ontario, interning with us this summer. We have invited him to share his authentic and profound perspective as he learns about the refugee claim journey in Canada. We will have two posts this month, and it’s all Riley! Enjoy!!
Newcomer to New Coming: What I’ve Learned About Canada’s Refugee System So Far
Author: Riley Macnab
Photo by Daniel Dalea on Unsplash.
I’ll be honest; when I first started my internship with COMPASS I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. I had a basic understanding of immigration law from school, but refugee law? That felt distant. The kind of thing I’d read about in textbooks, or skim past in headlines. I thought I understood the broad strokes: people flee danger, Canada steps in, protection is granted. Clean, procedural, maybe even a little idealistic.
As it turns out, it’s nothing like that.
Imagine we sit down to play a card game. You’re dealt a hand. You start to play, following the rules as they’ve been explained. Then, halfway through, I quietly switch the rules. Suddenly, that card you just played? It’s no longer valid. The move you made? Doesn’t count anymore. You’d probably feel confused. Frustrated. Maybe even cheated. Now imagine it’s not a game, and the outcome isn’t winning or losing points. It’s whether you get to stay in Canada. Whether you get to work. Whether you’re safe. That’s what many refugee claimants are up against. Constantly shifting policies, unclear communication between agencies, and decisions that feel arbitrary, even life-altering. And unlike in a game, there are no do overs.
Working in this space has completely shifted how I see refugee claims, not just legally, but emotionally. It’s hard to explain just how complicated the system really is until you see it up close. Refugee protection isn’t a straight line. It’s a maze. You have IRCC handling paperwork, CBSA patrolling the borders, the IRB conducting hearings, and barely any of these bodies talk to each other. People wait months (or years) for decisions. They get lost in the shuffle. Some don’t have access to legal support at all. If you mix in language barriers, domestic and international changes, and the world of politics changing everyday, you may have 15% of the understanding of the challenges newcomers face.
What hit me hardest was how off public perception truly is. We have all heard the same comments: “we’re too soft” “anyone can get in” “what about the job market”; that the system and Canadians are being taken advantage of. But the reality I’ve seen doesn’t match those narratives. Most claimants are exhausted. Isolated. Trying to explain their trauma in a second language. They’re not gaming the system, they’re just trying to survive it.
If you’ve never had to fill out a Basis of Claim form, or sit through a refugee hearing, or wait for a decision that could determine whether you stay or get deported, it’s easy to judge from a distance. But I’d challenge anyone reading this to get closer. Sit in discomfort. Allow yourself to relearn. Ask questions. Read beyond the headlines. Support the organizations doing the hard, invisible work to help people get through this system with dignity. Form your opinion on fact rather than perception.
I came into this internship as a total newcomer to immigration law, and I’m definitely still learning. But the one thing that has already made itself abundantly clear is that the people that are crossing the borders aren’t the problem. The problem is an inconsistent system that treats protection like a privilege instead of a right.
