Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 1st, 2007

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Sure.

[Sarah Angus]

I think one of the reasons my program at WUSC is a success is that a sponsoring group of students submits an application to sponsor a refugee in November and the refugee arrives in September. There's obviously pre-work that WUSC does, but the turnover is very quick. So there's an immediate engagement. It's possible to make this work, but it needs some work.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Sure. Thank you.

Madame Faille.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

The refugee question is a very interesting topic. Earlier, someone mentioned Canada's efforts to take in Iraqi refugees. I don't remember who brought this up. I believe it was you.

I recently heard that there were approximately sixty Palestinian refugees living in Iraq along the Jordanian border who had been accepted. However, the journalist informed us that families were going to be separated and that the oldest members would be left behind. Eighty-seven of the Palestinians being abandoned along the Jordanian border were senior citizens.

Can you give us a profile of the applicants referred to you and can you tell us if you have witnessed similar cases where families were separated and human drama unfolded?

[Martin Mark Ill]

Thank you very much.

I worked with Diane Dicks from Vision Canada on the Iraqi refugee-related issues for quite a time. The Iraqi community is very active in trying to see possibilities to sponsor.

Unfortunately, until last week there was no receptive approach from the government side. But last week it suddenly changed, and we are very happy about that. Hundreds of cases were referred by UNHCR, from regions such as Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan—mostly Iraqis, but also including Palestinians from Iraq. The private sponsorship community is very open and very cooperative with the government. We are more than willing to do whatever we can to sponsor these people.

Yes, we hear about the problems, when they cut families in pieces.... But one of the strengths of the private sponsorship program is that the private sponsors can jump up and down at the CIC to see that family reunification happens. Honestly, in several cases, when we have had so-called linked cases and we know in advance that there is a family member who is elderly, or there is a person who has special needs, medical considerations, then CIC is really good at taking that into consideration.

I think that is exactly our role, that a private sponsor is there to make sure that Canada, through this wonderful resettlement program, doesn't hurt family unity. We do something good, but we need to be there.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

I see. Thank you. I believe I have no further questions. Do I have any time remaining?

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Yes, you do. We're going to tighten up a little because we have to adjourn a bit early, as we have three items on the agenda.

But you've got two minutes left. Go ahead, if you wish.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

No, you can go ahead.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Ms. Grewal please.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you all for your presentations.

I've got a couple of sharp questions for all of you, so please feel free to answer.

What, on average, are the processing times for refugees awaiting private sponsorships? What areas in the world have the longest times?

[Martin Mark Ill]

Once you submit a sponsorship undertaking it goes to the local CIC office, which approves it in 30 to 60 days and then sends it to the visa post. From the visa post, they send out a form, the IMM 6000 package, which the refugee has to fill out and send back. When it arrives at the visa post, that is day one. If you consider that day one, then the average processing time right now is 37 months until the decision is reached.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

What areas of the world have the longest processing time?

[Martin Mark Ill]

The longest is African visa posts, the Canadian visa posts in Africa. Pretoria has a 46-month average processing time and Abidjan is the worst, with a 49-month average processing time. And that's only part of the process, from the point at which the visa post receives the forms from the refugee and they reach a decision. Before and after that, we still need time to prepare the refugee to come to Canada.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

What factors have contributed to the long delays in bringing privately sponsored refugees to Canada?

[Heather Macdonald]

I would say just the applications; there have been many applications put in. I do believe that the visa posts all along have been underresourced, humanly and financially, and that has to be addressed.

There is this feeling across the country of people wanting to help, to respond, but now I'm having to say in so many cases, no, you can't respond, that isn't a strong refugee claim. It's very hard when you see an Afghan woman alone whose husband has been killed and I tell the congregation, maybe this isn't a strong refugee claim.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

What remedies does your organization propose to address some of these concerns expressed about the program?

[Martin Mark Ill]

It's an excellent question, because this is actually one of the issues. There are no real remedies in the program. In the inland protection, with refugee status determination in Canada by the refugee board, at least with IRPA you have the appeal division, and there are different ways to go. But practically, in overseas protection there is no remedy we can go to. The only way would be by the Federal Court, by submitting the application for leave and judicial review, but it doesn't work because you need a lawyer here and you need to contact the refugee in the camp, or whatever. So it's really a hardship.

As for case management or case review, this doesn't work at CIC, unfortunately. At least that is the general experience of sponsors. Whenever we ask for case management or case review at CIC, it basically doesn't bring anything.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

What concerns do you have regarding the decision-making process used by visa officers regarding private sponsorship of refugees?

[Martin Mark Ill]

Generally, I think in Canada at the refugee board there are some very important or crucial safeguards implemented. In Canada you can have counsel help the refugee. In the international protection, the law doesn't provide this to the refugee, and this is an issue to address.

The second is that in Canada, once you go through the refugee determination process—and I was there—they record the voices every time, which helps for further transparency and accountability. We don't have this overseas. These are things that could help.

The last thing is the sharing of information. Lately, as my colleague mentioned, CIC has been more open in sharing information about country conditions so that we are on the same page. For instance, on the Iraqi issue, until last week we got dozens and dozens of refusals, and I'm sure now there's been a change of policy. It's not only refugee law, but there's also politics involved, of course. Because of this, we hope that acceptances in Damascus will go up.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

How many applications for private sponsorships of refugees do you estimate are made on average annually?

[Carolyn Vanderlip]

I'm just flipping through to see if I can find the actual number. For 2006, it was around 5,800 persons, which was actually quite a bit lower than previous years. It's been as high as 10,000 persons over the last five or six years.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Have government sponsorships of refugees increased or decreased in recent years?

[Heather Macdonald]

They're pretty much the same.

[A voice]

They've remained constant.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

They're constant.