High Commissioner's mission to Canada

High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers will arrive in Ottawa next week (4-6 February) on his first official visit to Canada since his appointment last year. During his two-day visit, Mr. Lubbers will meet with Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada; William Graham, the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Denis Coderre, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration; Arthur Eggleton, Minister of National Defence; and Susan Whelan, Minister for International Cooperation. With the exception of the Minister for National Defence, the other Ministers are new, having recently been appointed following the mid-January cabinet shuffle. Canada is an important country to UNHCR. It received 42,700 asylum applications in 2001, making it the fifth largest industrialized receiving country (after Germany, the UK, the USA and France). In 2001, Canada also took in 10,800 refugees for resettlement, which on a per capita basis is more than the USA or Australia. Finally, Canada ranked 11th on UNHCR's list of donors in 2001, with a contribution of US$17 mill