Canada has a job to do

Recognizing refugee status of one or even 1,000 Mexicans does not mean that Canada is "declaring Mexico incapable of looking after its people" (Mexico’s Good Fight - Oct. 21).

The refugee determination process is an individualized process. A member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada makes an independent decision as to whether the asylum claimant has a "well-founded fear of persecution" in the country of origin. The decision is about the capacity (and will) of the authorities to protect this person, and is not a sweeping political assessment of the country’s level of democracy.

In 1993, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized the refugee status of a citizen of Ireland and resident of Northern Ireland (U.K.), whom the police could not protect against terrorists, and no one has argued that Ireland or the U.K. are rogue states. The IRB has also recognized refugee status in some cases of family violence, and in cases involving violence against gays and lesbians.

That Mexico is generally a democracy and attempts to fight corruption and drug-related violence is beyond dispute. This cannot prevent the IRB from doing what Canada has undertaken to do in international law, which is to recognize refugee status of individuals who fit the international refugee definition.