Social Assistance Receipt Among Refugee Claimants in Canada: Evidence from Linked Administrative Data Files - ARCHIVED

Refugee claimants are an important part of the non-permanent resident population of Canada. Canada granted permanent residency to approximately 12,000 to 16,000 refugees every year during the latter part of the 2000s, and approximately 115,000 to 130,000 refugee claimants were residing in Canada at some point every year over that period. Despite the volume of refugee claimants, very little information on their economic characteristics has been available to date. This report draws on new linked administrative data files to provide information on the receipt of social assistance (SA) among this population. The study was successful in linking approximately three-quarters of all refugee claimants to administrative files containing information on the annual receipt of SA.