Seven Olympic spectators seek Canadian asylum

Immigration officials say seven Olympic spectators have applied for refugee asylum in Canada.

Of the seven, one is Japanese, one is Russian and four are Hungarian Roma, according to Vancouver immigration lawyer Richard Kurland.

Kurland said federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney revealed the countries of origin during a TV debate between the pair Tuesday. The information is normally protected by privacy rules.

Kurland said the claimants can work in Canada, get free medical and welfare and send their children to school while they wait to process their claims, which can take up to two years.

If they lose their claims, airline tickets home are paid by taxpayers.

The Roma claims made Kurland particularly angry.

"If ever there was a case to be made for the abuse of Canada’s generous refugee system, this is it," Kurland said. "They give genuine refugees a bad name."

Last year, the Immigration and Refugee Board accepted three refugee claims from Hungary. Five were rejected.

More than 250 claims were abandoned or withdrawn.

"Ninety-seven per cent of them don’t show up at the hearings," said Kurland. "That’s it, they’re gone."

He said refugee claimants from Hungary are currently coming into Canada at the rate of 200 a month.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokeswoman Johanne Nadeau said six of the refugee claimants are from visa-exempt countries, while one is from a country requiring a visa to enter Canada.

"Naturally, these people arrive on their own, and some of them have more means than others," said Nadeau.

Nadeau also noted that more refugee claimants could surface in coming weeks. So far, no Olympic athletes or officials have filed claims.

Last year, Ottawa imposed a visa requirement on the Czech Republic after a flood of asylum-seekers from the Roma minority there.

The head of a Vancouver-based immigration support group said he’s not surprised Olympic spectators are making a claim. But it won’t be easy for them, he predicted.

"It is a huge undertaking," said Eyob Naizghi, executive director of Mosaic. "Eighteen months in limbo is a hell of a time."

The onus is on the refugee to prove they have a genuine claim, he said.

Not only do they not know if they’ll be making a new life in Canada, they don’t know the consequences if they return to their country of origin, he said.

"It’s a tough journey for whoever makes that gutsy decision to actually say I am going to make a refugee claim in Canada," Naizghi said.