After presenting itself as one of the world’s most welcoming countries for refugees and immigrants, Canada is launching a global online advertising campaign to warn asylum seekers of the difficulty of submitting a claim.
The immigration department told Reuters that the ads, worth 250,000 Canadian dollars ($178,662 U.S. dollars), will run until next March in 11 languages, including Spanish, Urdu, Ukrainian, Hindi and Tamil. It’s part of a broader shift in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unpopular government’s tone on immigration and an attempt to suppress refugee applications.
Immigrants are blamed for rising housing prices, although some experts say that is a simplistic explanation, and opinion polls show that a growing number of Canadians believe the country is receiving too many new arrivals.
The four-month campaign is budgeted to cost a third of all spending on similar ads over the past seven years.
The ministry said search queries such as “how to seek asylum in Canada” and “refugees in Canada” will return sponsored content titled “Canada’s Asylum System – Asylum Facts.”
“Seeking asylum in Canada is not easy. There are strict guidelines to qualify. Find out what you need to know before you make a life-changing decision,” says one ad.
Canada has long been viewed as a welcoming place for newcomers. Now its leaders are working to reduce immigration, trying to convince temporary residents to leave and preventing people fleeing US President-elect Donald Trump from seeking asylum.
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“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada works to combat the spread of misinformation and disinformation about the Canadian immigration system, and to highlight the risks of working with unauthorized representatives,” a department spokesperson wrote in an email.
It may be an uphill battle. Canada’s refugee system faces a backlog of 260,000 cases amid growing global displacement. The government has little control over who seeks asylum.
The Immigration Minister has hinted that fast-tracked claims are unlikely to succeed. The government hopes millions of people will leave the country on their own when their visas expire, and the Immigration Minister has threatened to deport them if they do not.
It is a dramatic shift for a government that has for years welcomed it.
In January 2017, when Trump took office, Trudeau tweeted: “To those fleeing persecution, terrorism and war, Canadians will welcome you, no matter your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada.”
On November 17, nearly eight years later, Trudeau released a video touting his government’s immigration policies, calling out “bad actors” who “exploit our immigration system for their own interests.”
Last month, the Liberal government, which has been trailing in the polls, announced it would reduce permanent and temporary immigration. The population is expected to shrink slightly for two years.
Advertising campaigns to counter misinformation about how to apply for asylum could be helpful, said Jamie Chai-Yun Liu, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and an immigration expert.
“On the other hand, if they say, ‘You’re not welcome’ … that seems contrary to Canada’s approach in the past,” she said. “They changed their messaging.”
