Alice Massari, "No Countries for Refugees - Canada and Europe's Shrinking Asylum Space" in Refugee "Responsibility Sharing" - Challenging the Status Quo: a special issue of the PKI Global Justice Journal (2023) 7 PKI Global Justice Journal 6 No Countries for Refugees - Canada and Europe's Shrinking Asylum Space By: Alice Massari Introduction Migration has taken center stage in Canada and Europe’s media and political arenas, capturing intense attention and priority over the past decade. The divergence between these two contexts runs deep, with stark contrasts in the nature and scale of the phenomenon, the geographical features that shape respective countries’ accessibility, and the strategic approaches employed to tackle this pressing issue; however, both Canada and Europe are progressively shrinking asylum seekers’ possibilities for safe entry and the protection space. This article compares the most recent migration policies in place across the two contexts regarding asylum. Canada’s Migration Exceptionalism and the Safe Third Country Agreement Canada’s migration system is a highly proactive one. Often defined as the “immigration exceptionalism” approach, the system is based on a commitment to multiculturalism and large public support. With a total of 431,645 new permanent residents accepted in 2022, Canada has the highest proportion of immigrants among G7 countries. According to the latest statistics, the majority of Canada’s labor force expansion is a result of immigration. Economic immigration contributes to around 75% of the country’s population growth. It is anticipated that by 2036, immigrants will comprise up to 30% of Canada's population, rising from 20.7% in 2011.