According to Canada Border Services Agency, as of Jan. 31, there were 2,647 refugee cases still awaiting security screening results, down from a peak of 11,745 last February. This created much of the security clearance backlog. They are then released for further screening by border agents, which may include personal records from a refugee claimant’s home country, before their refugee hearings. Between January 2018 and this February, the border agency said it received 44,593 security screening requests for refugee claimants, with an additional 8,520 carried over from 2017. As of February, refugee claimants have to wait an average of 54 days for security screening results by the border agency, with the oldest file in the system being 1,150 days.

Source: thestar February 14, 2019 18:54 UTC