ASYLUM CASES - STRAIN CANADA

A wave of asylum seekers entering Canada this year has exacerbated a backlog of refugee claims that the government is struggling to manage-

Leaving tens of thousands of people stuck in bureaucratic limbo even as they try to build new lives.

Canada's immigration and refugee board says it has a backlog of 40,700 cases. More than 10,000 asylum seekers have crossed illegally into Quebec from the United States since July alone.

But the board has the money and the staff to process just 24,000 cases a year, meaning that many people will have to wait around 16 months for their case to be heard.

''The strain on the organization to handle this many people's hearings is enormous.'' Shereen Benzvy Miller, the head of the board's refugee protection division, told a parliamentary immigration committee.

''The math is clear,'' she added. ''Unless you put more resources to this problem, then it takes longer time to schedule, so there will be longer wait times.''

The delay also increases the amount of money Canada spends on asylum seekers medical care, education and public assistance, said Richard Kurland, a former national chairman of the-Canadian Bar Association's citizenship and immigration section :

''The longer they stay, the more Canadians pay,'' he said.

The immigration board set up a special task force in August to respond to the influx of asylum seekers who crossed illegally into Quebec.

By the end of September, the task force had completed around 300 claims, rejecting about 50 percent of them.