GUADALAJARA, Mexico, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking in Mexico, said he blames decisions to impose visas on Mexican nationals on Canada's refugee system.
In Guadalajara for a North American summit Monday, Harper said he would urge the Canadian Parliament to enact changes to the system to curtail the flow of "bogus claims," Canwest News Service reported.
After bilateral discussions with Mexican President Felipe Calderon ahead of the summit, Harper sought to deflect criticism of the Canadian law by the Mexican government. In July, regulations went into effect that required travelers from the Czech Republic and Mexico to have visas because of the increased number of refugee applications.
"This is not the fault of the government of Mexico. Let me be very clear about this. This is a problem with Canadian refugee law, which encourages bogus claims," said Harper. "And Parliament should be seized with this issue, and I hope our Parliament will take advantage of the attention that's been brought on this issue to deal with this problem."
The status quo in Canada's refugee system "can't continue," Harper said. "We have many legitimate refugee claimants, and of course we have lots of people who are going through our immigration system in very large numbers legally, but we are spending an enormous amount of money on bogus refugee claims that encourages those claims."
