About 15 per cent of guests at Canadian AIDS conference claimed asylum
OTTAWA — Almost one-sixth of guests at a major AIDS conference in Montreal last year who received Canadian visas ended up claiming asylum, according to internal data obtained by The Canadian Press.
The documents also show Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada struggled to work with the International AIDS Society as both tried to avoid a mass refusal of visas.
When the society’s conference got underway last July in Montreal, dozens of delegates from Africa had been denied visas or never received responses to their applications. Some accused Ottawa of racism on stage, saying international gatherings should not return to Canada.
The controversy followed similar incidents at other global summits hosted in Canada in recent years, for which some African delegates could not obtain visas despite receiving invitations on Canadian government letterhead.
Documents obtained through access-to-information laws show that 1,020 or 36 per cent of visa applications for last summer’s AIDS conference were rejected. Another 10 per cent were not processed by the end of the event.
Canada issued 1,638 visas for the conference, and the documents show that at least 251 people, or about 15 per cent, claimed asylum after entering Canada.
Robert Blanshay, a Toronto immigration lawyer, said making an asylum claim by attending a conference or sporting event in Canada is often one of the few ways people can get to safety.
“I’m not surprised at all that the percentage of people from a certain country (who were) issued visitor visas to come would actually not return home and claim refugee status,” he said, adding that the idea sometimes only occurs to people after they reach Canada and hear about others doing so.
“Good for them. If this is their
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