Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Asylum seekers in 2008

I was looking at the UNHCR data on asylum seekers for 2008. Canada had the second highest number at around 36000. We were up from sixth in 2007 and 25000 asylum seekers.

Given our distance from the conflict spots, it is quite amazing how many applications Canada recieves. I would like to see us surpass the US and become the number destination for assylum seekers. My mother arrived in Canada as UN recognized stateless person in 1952.

Asylum seekers are not the same as refugees. Globally there were only 350 000 asylum seekers in 2008.

3 comments:

SteveM said...

Asylum. The other spelling is disconcerting.

Bernard said...

thank you Nuk, I have changed it. I am crap speller at the best of times in English or my native German. Posting via my phone adds problems. Luckily no one pays to express my opinion here

Andrew Wade said...

What is the difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee, in this context?