Few asylum seekers coming to Sask. in potential record year

Canada might be expecting a record number of asylum seekers this year, but it appears Saskatchewan isn’t contributing to the higher totals.

New numbers published Tuesday from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada show the number of asylum seekers coming to Canada is the highest since 2009.

The ministry said 27,440 claims for asylum had been filed as of August. The number is expected to surpass 40,000 by the end of the year, which would beat out the current record of 36,000 set in 2008.

However, Saskatchewan has only processed 15 asylum claims so far in 2017, all at a land port. Ten of those were in April; it’s unclear when the other five were filed.

RCMP officers also apprehended asylum seekers between ports of entry 14 times along the province’s southern border. There were five interceptions in January and another nine in April, with none recorded since.

—With files from The Canadian Press.