Evidence of meeting #38 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 39th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was refugees.
A recording is available from Parliament.
West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, Ind.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I just wanted to go over some of your numbers briefly. It says here that in 2007 your organization submitted 1,515 resettlement cases to the Government of Canada for consideration. Of these 1,500-odd cases, the Government of Canada accepted and processed 293 Iraqi refugees. Is that figure correct?
Resettlement Officer, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
We did refer 1,515 persons to Canada last year. Are you asking how many people have actually left among that 1,515?
West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, Ind.
You say in your document and you said in your testimony here on page 2 that statistics from CIC show that during 2007, 293 Iraqis claimed asylum in Canada.
Senior Protection Officer, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The 293 number is individuals who have arrived at the borders of Canada or an airport and claimed asylum in Canada.
West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, Ind.
So roughly 1,500 cases were recommended to the Government of Canada of the 25,000 or 21,000 you were trying to process, and the government processed 293?
Senior Protection Officer, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
No, sir. Coming on their own, 293 people spontaneously arrived at your airports or borders. The other numbers relate to resettlement numbers.
West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, Ind.
Of those who were referred, how many of them actually landed in Canada? That is the question I am trying to ascertain.
Resettlement Officer, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
We're not sure actually. We get our numbers from IOM. The numbers, we've been told by IOM, are in some preliminary information from Citizenship and Immigration. An official suggests that about 800 to 1,000 Iraqis came to Canada in 2007, but we don't know yet.
You can keep in mind that some of those persons were referred later in 2007 so they may still be in process. We submitted 1,515 on January 1, 2007. How many get there by the end? That was throughout 2007, so it's a difficult comparison.
West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, Ind.
Either way, on the number that you recommend to the 16 member states that are taking refugees, you're not getting 100 out of 100. You're getting a relatively low number of uptake from the refugees you submit. Is that correct?
Resettlement Officer, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
I'm unsure of what our acceptance rate is right now in terms of countries. Certainly some of the countries don't necessarily accept every case that we refer to them for a variety of reasons, but I can't say at this point in time. I don't want to make an estimate one way or the other. I don't want to mislead you one way or the other, sir.
West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, Ind.
But in any event, the way the numbers pan out is relatively low. The number that Canada is taking in, based on 2.7 million displaced internal Iraqis, is incredibly low--what we are doing vis-à-vis what you're asking us to do.
The question I am trying to get to is this. What recommendations or suggestions can you give us to increase the capacity to process the refugees? Is it a processing capacity problem in Canada or is it just that our numbers are so low?
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
I think we should separate the two. What we would like is more contributions to come in order to be able to attend to the welfare of these people in the region.
The second thing we would like to do is to have more people being resettled because of the sheer numbers I spoke about. So clearly, yes, we would like to see Canada taking more. We would like to see all other countries taking more so that we can alleviate a bit of the burden that rests at the moment in the region of people who are in dire need of resettlement.
Senior Protection Officer, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
I'd like to follow up on that briefly, sir.
There's been a lot of discussion around the table and a lot of very pointed questions about what should Canada do and how much should we give, either economically or in terms of numbers. In both those cases in terms of our financing, we're a voluntary agency. We receive donations based on the goodwill of countries, and in terms of resettlement, that's also a voluntary act of states. You have no international obligation to accept a set number of people. So when we speak to you about asking for more, we have no legal basis to demand a specific percentage.
There was a comment on whether we're taking our fair share. Some countries choose to take none.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle
Okay. May I interrupt there? That's the full hour for the committee.
I want to thank you for coming here today. As you know, we're writing a report on Iraqi refugees, and I'm sure your comments will be taken into consideration as well. Thank you for being here.
We'll break for a moment for folks to get a sandwich, if they want, and then we'll go in camera to discuss our fifth report of the subcommittee on agenda and procedures.
[Proceedings continue in camera]