Refugee hearing backlog puts Windsor families' lives on hold

A backlog at the country's immigration board has created lengthy delays for many refugees in Windsor waiting to be granted asylum in their new country.

Melani Cortes Reyes and her family have been waiting two years for their hearing after escaping Colombia in 2015 and eventually crossing on footinto the province of Quebec looking for safety.

• Spike in asylum seekers at Southern Ontario border crossings

That kind of timeline isbecoming normal, according to immigration lawyer Jason Currie, who has five clients waiting anywhere from five months to two years.

"I'd say, in the past six months, I've had more hearings rescheduled than I had go forward," he said. "There's been shortages of adjudicators, board members in Toronto they just haven't had the people."

Settlement delayed

The wait has already put a damper on the plans of the Cortes Reyes family. Melani's older brother, 22-year-old Giovanny, would like to go to university, but without refugee status, he would have to pay much higher international student tuition.

That kind of cost is just too far out of reach for the family that, less than two years ago, showed up on the steps of Catholic Central High School carrying everything they owned in bags, asking for help.

The family had just made a long and daring escape from constant death threats in Columbia. They passed through the U.S. staying in New York for a couple of months before arranging to be dropped off at the Quebec border.

"He told us to just walk and don't look back," Cortes Reyes said of the hired help that got them across the border. "Even if someone calls you, just walk and walk."

Walking to Canada

The family walked for hours looking for a person who was supposed to meet them on the other side. At the time they had no idea what the border would be like, whether they would get arrested or shot.

"I was praying the whole way. I was praying, praying: We can't die here. I was so nervous," Cortes Reyes said. "We saw a sign that was in French and we knew it was Canada because you would never see a sign in French in the U.S."

They were eventually discovered by Quebec police, who helped the family declare refugee status. But the family has been waiting for their refugee hearing that was first scheduled for May 2015.

'Signifigant backlog' of refugee cases

In a statement to CBC Windsor, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada stated its Refugee Protection Division has a 'significant backlog' of 25,000 cases, which it says is due to 'a steady increase' of asylum claims in the past three years.

"As an illustration of this trend, in 2014, there were approximately 14,000 refugee protection claims received and in 2015, 17,000 were received. This represents an increase of 21%," wrote spokesperson Anna Pape. "RPD intake for 2016 reached just over 23,600, which represents an increase of 69% from 2014."

In order to address the backlog, the RPD aims to increase productivity by 15-20 per cent over the next 2 years. It has granted 'expedited processing' to claims from Syria, Iraq, and Eritrea which, in most cases, means they can be accepted without a hearing.

High school steps up to help

While they wait for the government to catch up, Cortes Reyes said her family has been helped by Catholic Central.The family was taken in by school staff. The principal at the time put them up in a hotel for a few nights, while everyone arranged forthe right services.

"Relying on the teachers and administrators here at Catholic Central really was the stepping stone," said Natalia Uros, head of English as second language department at Catholic Central High School. "They were destitute. They had nowhere to go. They were walking by the school and saw the sign."