MYTH: Canada respects the rights of all refugees and immigrants living in Canada.

Canadians are rightly proud of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms and our human rights commitments, but our record is not spotless. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has repeatedly criticized Canada for its slowness in reuniting refugee families.

MYTH: Canada has more difficulty intergrating newcomers today than a century ago. Immigrants are now more diverse.

Fears about immigrant integration are not new.  Generation after generation, people have worried about whether the most recent immigrants will integrate as well as previous immigrants.

MYTH: Refugee claimants pose threats to Canada's security.

Refugee claimants are not threats to security – they are seeking security and protection from threats to their own lives.

MYTH: Canada does more than its share to assist refugees and asylum seekers when compared to other countries.

On the contrary, international law recognizes that refugees often have no choice but to enter a country of asylum illegally.

MYTH: Real refugees are those who wait in refugee camps overseas. Those who make a claim in Canada jump the line and are not as deserving.

Refugees are people who have been forced from their homes by human rights abuses. All refugees have a right to protection, wherever they are.