For the past two years more than 2 000 Barbadians have fled these shores seeking asylum and refugee status in Canada, the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland, as well as the United States (US).
Many are claiming their lives are in danger due to gun and gang violence presently plaguing the country; that they are being persecuted because of their sexual orientation or that they were victims of rape or partner violence. Others appear to have overstayed their time and were seeking asylum to avoid deportation.
In 2023, this newspaper reported that more than 200 Barbadians were seeking asylum and refugee status. That number has now skyrocketed, with even some families fleeing the country.
In 2024, a total of 1 035 Barbadians fled, with 397 and 604 seeking refugee status and asylum respectively in Canada. Similarly, 18 and 11 sought refugee and asylum in the UK and Northern Ireland while five sought asylum in the US. This year, that record was broken, with a total of 1 075 Barbadians recorded.
According to statistics by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the numbers of Barbadians claiming refugee and asylum respectively were 351 and 690 in Canada; 19 and ten in the UK and Northern Ireland and five in the US.
The UNHCR defines an asylum seeker as someone who has fled their country and applied for protection but whose claim has not been legally recognised yet. A refugee is someone whose application has been approved, granting them legal status and international protection because they face persecution or serious threats in their home country.
In Canada, people usually have to declare that they are seeking asylum as soon as they land. They are provided with accommodation, a CAN$1 200 stipend and an attorney until their matter is heard. Children are also allowed to attend school.
Threatened by gang
In two cases before the Canadian Refugee Board, two Barbadian men claimed they were threatened by members of the Red Sea Gang and the Lebanon Gang. In the past, a few Barbadians, mainly from the LGBTQ community were the ones who were leaving Barbados seeking asylum, mainly in Canada and the UK, on the basis of being persecuted because of their sexual orientation.
Overall, people seeking asylum have to produce evidence of a “well-founded fear of persecution” for reasons such as race, religion, nationality or political opinion. However, in Canada, people are allowed to seek asylum to escape persecution, violence, torture or serious harm in their home countries.
When contacted, High Commissioner of Barbados to Canada, Gline Clarke, said Barbadians were treating the asylum system “as if it was a programme”, as he pointed out that recently a woman contacted him asking how she could obtain asylum.
“Barbadians are really looking for opportunities. They are treating it as a programme like how the domestics came over here in the 1950s and 1960s. There is a loophole there and it’s the easiest way for them to see. So, that is one of the ways that you can get through to residency faster than if you apply for permanent residence from the IRCC [Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada],” he said.
Many people
“So, in other words, there are many people from all walks of life – doctors, lawyers, you have people from the civil service, people from the police – who have applied to come to Canada but those are people who are taking the legitimate route. It takes longer, because even those people do exams, sometimes they do English exams.”
Stating that seeking refugee status to some was the easiest way out, Clarke explained: “Refugees are treated extremely well. They get housing and so on, but it takes at least a year or two before they can investigate their case. By that time, they may have a job. And the other thing is, Air Canada has a daily flight to Barbados that they never had before. Every day now, Air Canada comes up full, or goes down full. So there’s a brisk movement between Barbados and Canada, which we didn’t have before.”
However, he said the High Commission was never notified by the Canadian authorities about Barbadians seeking asylum. He said that usually the discussion would come up during meetings with officials or if the request was denied and people were trying to make their way back home.
Sunday Sun investigations revealed that some people who were eventually denied refugee status claimed that gang members were trying to kill them.
For instance, a man, his wife and three minor children were denied refugee status after the man claimed that gang members from the Red Sea gang were threatening to take his life.
He produced “anonymous letters” purporting to threaten his life, which he said were written by the gang and delivered to his house.
However, the IRCC denied his request, finding that they were not persons in need of protection.
The board official noted: “I have credibility concerns with this evidence. My first credibility concern arises with the letter from XXXX XXXX. The letter is said to be notarised by a Justice of the Peace but I note that there are no security features such as an official stamp or seal attached. I would expect that documents which are said to be notarised and signed by a valid Justice of the Peace in Barbados would include some kind of official stamp or seal.
“I find the contents of the letter to be vague. For example, the letter from XXXX XXXX indicates that the three handwritten letters received at her home were from the Red Sea gang but there are no details as to how XXXX XXXX knew that these letters were in fact written and left by the Red Sea gang. As well, XXXX XXXX indicates that she received three letters on three different dates but no further details are provided. For example, there is no information provided as to where the letter was left, if anyone might have witnessed a person(s) leaving the letter and what (if anything) XXXX XXXX did to respond to (what she perceived to be) ongoing threats towards her family by a gang. There is no indication in the letter that XXXX XXXX contacted the police or found it necessary to leave her residence for reasons related to receiving three letters which she believed to be threatening in nature and from the Red Sea Gang . . . . Importantly, the names of the appellants do not appear in any of the letters, so I have no way of establishing that the threats made in these letters are directed to the appellants or were directed at other unknown persons.”
In another case, a man said he was shot at by a”masked member of the Lebanon Gang” as he was walking home one night.
However, again the board dismissed his application, stating that he did not make a complaint to the police and that he stayed in Barbados for almost a year “hiding out at a friend” whose name he could not remember, before arriving in Canada.
In other instances, some women claimed they were sexually assaulted and physically abused by their intimate partners or family members. (MB)
