According to a government document circulated online on Monday, people seeking asylum in Canada can receive $224 per day to cover housing and food while waiting for application processing — that’s $81,760 per year.Claimants in Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) operated hotels, regardless of how they enter Canada, are provided with accommodations and meals once they are relocated, says the document dated March 14, noting the average cost per room across all sites is $140 per night. The average cost per day for meals is $84.“Canada is currently navigating a significant financial challenge due to the record number of asylum claimants entering the country,” says a report by immigration lawyers Gunness & Associates.According to various sources, the average yearly salary for a Canadian is between $60,000 to $72,000..The financial burden created by assisting immigrants has fuelled widespread criticism, including from conservative MPs, who argue the benefits received by asylum claimants are greater than those available to Canadian seniors, says Gunness & Associates.The number of pending asylum claims in Canada is around 156,000. The increase means the federal government’s Interim Housing Assistance Program is incurring substantial costs. “The program, designed to offer temporary accommodations and housing solutions to around 7,000 asylum claimants, has an annual expenditure of $557 million,” says Gunness & Associates. “Despite efforts to manage the influx, such as the closure of the Roxham Road border crossing, the number of irregular border crossers remains high. By the end of 2023, there were 42,387 pending refugee claims.”Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a recent broadcast the federal government could have done a better job on the immigration file. He shifted blame for dysfunctional immigration programs to “bad actors” and “large corporations.”Canada’s population has experienced rapid growth, reaching 41 million. As a result, there will be a significant cut to immigration, said Trudeau. .Over the next two years, the number of permanent residents will be reduced by around 20% to 365,000 from the previous 500,000."Looking back, when the post-pandemic boom cooled and businesses no longer needed the additional labour help, as a federal team we could have acted quicker and turned off the taps faster," said Trudeau.
