Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Dec. 11th, 2007

[Micheline Aucoin]

Yes, the UNHCR gave more recommendations. Many people have only begun arriving in the recent months. Their files will be reviewed next year.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Thank you.

Thank you, Madame Faille.

Ms. Chow.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

In the 1979, 1980, 1981 period, there was a large number of boat people who came in through a special refugees program. Do you know how many Southeast Asian refugees in total—ballpark, it doesn't have to be precise—came in during that period?

[Bruce Scoffield]

That particular period, 1979—

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

It was to 1982, or thereabouts.

[Bruce Scoffield]

—to 1981, was really the beginning of the private sponsorship program.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

That's right, but in the entire program, how many were there?

[Bruce Scoffield]

This is very much a ballpark estimate, but I believe the total number over the life of the Indo-Chinese special class was around 150,000 refugees. In addition there would have been people sponsored in the family class.

Honestly, it would be better for me to get that number and submit it to the committee.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Sure.

What percentage would it be? Around that period, I remember there were a lot of people stuck in refugee camps or in boats, and there was a special program. Do you remember how big the problem was at that time? Were they in the millions?

[Bruce Scoffield]

I can't say I actually remember that program, as a civil servant. But my knowledge of the program is that there were between two million and three million people displaced from Indochina, beginning in the late 1970s and carrying on through until the end of the comprehensive plan of action in 1995.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Our response at that time was a substantial percentage, because 150,000 in that period is a good percentage of the two million at that time.

What kind of special program was it? How did it work? I see parallels, because I see that in terms of the number of Iraqi refugees we're looking at 2.2 million or thereabouts, and at the rate we're going, with 1,400 here or 2,000 there, in total, we will never reach the 150,000 number. How did that special program work in that time, during that period?

[Bruce Scoffield]

The first thing for me to say is that a very large number of people who were resettled, were resettled over a very long period of time, from 1979 to 1995. It didn't all start at once in the first year.

There was a special regulatory class created, called the Indochinese designated class, that set out criteria for the processing of Indochinese refugees, which, at the beginning, simply required that the applicant be a citizen of one of the affected countries, who had left that country after a certain date and who was presently in the region, in Southeast Asia, under the care of the international community.

Over time, it was recognized that such very general criteria were in fact encouraging more people to leave Vietnam, people who in fact were not at risk. As a result, the international community agreed on what was called the comprehensive plan of action, which mandated UNHCR to make individual refugee status determinations for all Indochinese refugees. Countries like Canada agreed to only resettle persons who were recognized by UNHCR as refugees. So there was a change to our approach. That would have been about 1989 when that change happened.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

During the period when the regulation changed, the Minister of Immigration at that time—I think it was Barbara McDougall—established a program that said we would set up a certain target for the number of refugees that we would, over the life of that period, accept from that area. Did it say that if the government would sponsor x number, and then the churches and the synagogues and private organizations can then sponsor y number, collectively we will then get this number of refugees into the country?

[Bruce Scoffield]

There were different targets at different times over the period. In the very early days there was a commitment, I believe, by the government to match one for one.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

I remember that one, yes.

[Bruce Scoffield]

That didn't last a long time because the generosity of Canadians proved so enthusiastic that the government wasn't able to continue that commitment.

Over that period of time, we managed the arrival of refugees in the way that we do today. Parliament was informed every year of the annual plan, and the government made commitments with respect to the number of refugees that would be admitted in the year to come.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

In all, how many private sponsorships were there? I remember there were a lot of churches, synagogues--they all got into it. So there were a huge number of sponsorships in that period.

[Bruce Scoffield]

Absolutely. I would have to go and get that information and submit it to the committee. But it was an extraordinary effort on the part of Canadians all across the country.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

This is a semi-public, political question.

Do you think if that kind of challenge is given to Canadians, that given the dire conditions a lot of these Iraqi refugees are now in, in camps that are in terrible conditions, the government would be willing to say that if the private organizations--you're worried about this question--if the public opened their hearts and minds and pocketbooks and homes to allow these Iraqi refugees to come into the country, and they sponsor...? Would the government also be willing to accept that number, whatever the number might be, and attempt to sponsor even 50% or 30%, or some percentage of it, and allow that kind of sponsorship to be expedited into the country?

[Bruce Scoffield]

I believe that's the sort of question you would need to ask the minister.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

I have one last question. Is it a problem to do it as far as the department is concerned? If there is a political will, is there any logistical problem?

[Bruce Scoffield]

Certainly whatever the government chooses to do with the number of refugees who are to be admitted in Canada, we'll have to take into consideration the capacity of whether it would be our offices abroad to process the cases or the settlement organizations in Canada to receive them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Chow.

Ms. Grewal.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for your time.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, this year Canada is among the top countries for accepting refugees from Iraq. By mid-November we had welcomed almost 661 refugees. Is this number accurate?

[Micheline Aucoin]

Yes, Mr. Chair. In fact, actually, as of now, more than 900 refugees have come to Canada so far this year. So that does put us among the top resettlement countries again this year.