Thank you for the invitation.
We have 180 organizations in the Canadian Council for Refugees. Among them we have private sponsorship groups, settlement agencies, community groups, and lawyers who work with immigrants and refugees.
Thank you for this invitation because we want to bring the contribution of refugees into the budget, and how they can contribute more. I want to address refugee resettlement.
As you saw, this year Canada received a lot of Syrian refugees. When they resettle in Canada, they come with a debt, their transportation loans. They need to pay for their transportation to come to Canada. Because they cannot afford the expense, the Government of Canada gives them a loan that they need to pay back with interest. That will limit their contribution, because when they arrive they need to start paying that. As a recommendation, the Canadian Council for Refugees calls on the government to wait and absorb all the costs for transportation and expenses for refugees. From April of next year, the Government of Canada is absorbing their medical costs. We are looking to see if they can absorb the transportation loans.
Also, one of the things we have been doing, in terms of refugees making a contribution, is providing settlement services. It's a big investment. We are asking the Government of Canada if they can increase the resources for settlement services for refugees and immigrants, especially for refugees who come with high needs, and if it can provide different levels of support during the time they receive these settlement services.
Other services we are looking at are in relation to refugees when they are in Canada. We need to talk about some limitations. For example, one of the things that we are looking at is family reunification. We are looking into whether the government can commit more resources to family reunification and reunite families in six months, at a minimum. Family reunification is taking too long. Instead of concentrating on their contribution here in Canada, the refugees send some of the remittances to their families.
We are also looking into any refugee, and especially refugee claimants, having access to work permits. They do have access to work permits, but it takes too long, more than four months. In that case, the Canadian Council for Refugees is recommending this year that refugees, even refugee claimants, have immediate access to work permits when they arrive in Canada. That way they can start contributing in Canada.
As you know, we receive a lot of temporary foreign workers. We also have survivors of human trafficking, and we have also persons from other countries whom Canada cannot remove. One of the things we are looking into is whether the Government of Canada can amend their policies in favour of these categories. Having access to permanent residency will make a better contribution to Canadian society.
With that, I want to say thank you. If you have any questions, I'm willing to answer.