For much of history, Canadian refugee law has prohibited certain people from finding asylum in Canada. Specifically, people who were previously considered a burden on social welfare have been denied access to Canada. This proves that national policies, as well as social protection legislations, considered refugees as a burden on social protection (textbook). To be clearer, refugees were seen as a waste of social welfare resources, and policies were put in place to legitimize this negative view of refugees. This shows that discrimination and oppression of refugees was present even in a system set up to help all members of Canadian society, including those who come to Canada to seek asylum. Therefore, the development of refugee social work in Canada began by labeling refugees as a “burden,” and there are still examples of this mindset in current refugee social work policies and practices. Like the fact that refugees face extreme barriers to accessing health and social services (Voices article). This is due to many factors, including individual and systematic discrimination that refugees face that could deter them from wanting to receive help, as well as harmful behavior by health and social service agencies (manual). In addition, there are political barriers that