Thank you very much.
Thank you for the invitation to speak to you this morning about Bill C-291, compelling implementation of the refugee appeal division.
The Canadian Council for Refugees urges the Committee to complete its study very quickly, given that the bill has already been studied by both the House and the Senate in the previous Parliament. It is very important that the bill be passed quickly, for three reasons.
The first is that the bill is important. Providing refugee claimants with the right to appeal may save lives. Wrong decisions at the refugee hearing that go uncorrected can lead to refugees being returned to persecution, torture and even death. Contrary to much popular opinion, there is currently no appeal on the merits for refugee claimants. The limited recourses that are available are incapable of correcting many errors in refugee determination.
The second reason is that the bill needs to be passed quickly. It is already more than six years since the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act came into effect without implementing the right of appeal for refugees foreseen by the Act. As a result, for six years refugee claimants have been having their fate determined by a single decision maker in a system never approved by Parliament. Refugees have already waited too long for this injustice to be corrected.
The third reason is that the bill was very close to becoming law. All that was left was for the House of Commons to vote on the amendments made by the Senate. It should therefore be a straightforward matter for the House and Senate to pass the same text without further debate and delays.
As you discuss this bill and the broader question of possible changes to the refugee determination system, we would encourage you to bear in mind several points.
First, refugee protection is a matter of human rights. A refugee determination system must first and foremost ensure respect for the human rights of those who claim our protection. Of course, you have a responsibility to ensure that the system is working efficiently and that it is not hampered, for example, by large numbers of claims from people who do not need Canada's protection. But your primary concern should always be to ensure that the system is ensuring that no one who needs Canada's protection is sent back to persecution or torture. We are therefore concerned when there appears to be more time and energy given to worrying about unfounded claims than about claimants who are wrongly rejected and face return to persecution or torture because there is no appeal on the merits in the Canadian system.
Second, refugee determination is about offering protection to individual human beings who need it. The success of the refugee determination system must be judged on whether it recognizes those individuals who need protection. It is not about whether the overall acceptance rate is high or low. To an individual person who needs protection and who has been rejected, it is no help to say that the acceptance rate in Canada is high. We want to underline the dramatic implications of the lack of appeal on the lives of individuals.
I invite you to read the story of Juan Manuel in this document that was circulated, on page three in the sidebar. Juan Manuel made a refugee claim that was denied in Canada. Shortly after his return to Mexico, he was brutally attacked by the people he had originally fled. He was in intensive care for 12 days. He was lucky to survive. If bystanders hadn't intervened, he would have been killed.
In another case, the UN Committee Against Torture intervened to stop Canada deporting an individual to a risk of torture.
It was in December 2004. The Committee Against Torture found that Canada had failed Enrique Falcon Rios, a victim of torture. The decision also highlighted some problems with Canada's refugee determination system, notably the lack of any effective appeal or recourse for correcting errors in decisions by the Immigration and Refugee Board.
There is a third point we would encourage you to bear in mind. There is a lot of misunderstanding about the refugee system. Unfortunately, the refugee system, which is quite complex, is often misunderstood or misrepresented. As you review problems in the system and consider changes, we strongly recommend that you make sure you get really good information about the system. For example, people frequently suggest that delays are caused in the refugee system by humanitarian and compassionate applications, commonly called “H and C”. We were discussing this earlier. However, it does not seem to be widely understood that there is no stay of removal pending an H and C application. So it is not true that a person can delay their removal by simply making an H and C application.
Another example of a misunderstanding is the common assumption that the problem lies with legislation if it takes a long time to remove refused claimants. In fact, it is more often a problem of bureaucratic processes and priorities. Despite the growing backlog at the Immigration and Refugee Board, many Mexican claimants have been having their hearings very quickly, because their claimants have been given priority by the board. Yet there may have been no effort to remove them for many months or years, those whose claims were rejected, because they are not a priority with another arm of the government.
The CCR and its member agencies have a wealth of experience with the system. We can see what is working and what is not. We urge you to recommend to the minister that he consult with the NGOs serving refugees before drafting any legislation.
There is a fourth and final point that we urge you to consider.
Discussion of refugee issues needs to be respectful and well-informed. We have heard numerous serious inaccuracies in recent public comment on the Canadian refugee system, often apparently motivated by hostility to refugee claimants. This does not support reasoned discussion about the important policy issues. Refugees are among the most vulnerable people in society and are easy targets for attack, as non-citizens in a foreign country.
We encourage you, as you discuss these issues, to always keep in mind that we are talking about human beings who deserve our respect.
Thank you very much.