Citizenship and Immigration Committee on April 27th, 2010

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Maurizio Bevilacqua]

I'd like to welcome everyone here this afternoon. This is meeting 11.

The orders of the day, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), are to follow up on the briefing by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration on its role in the Government of Canada's response to the earthquake in Haiti.

We have the pleasure to have with us representatives from the Hamilton Haitian Association, the National Council of Citizens of Haitian Origin, and Église Baptiste Nouvelle Jérusalem.

Welcome to you all.

Some of you have probably appeared in front of a committee before. We will give you five to seven minutes to make remarks. Thereafter we will engage in a question and answer session.

We will begin with Mr. John Abrams, a member of the Hamilton Haitian Association, and with Bernard DuBois, vice-president.

Welcome, and please proceed.

[Bernard DuBois, Vice-President, Hamilton Haitian Association]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My name is Bernard DuBois. With me is John Abrams. I represent the Hamilton Haitian Association. I would like to thank Olivia Chow, MP, for proposing my name to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.

Thank you, members of Parliament, members of the committee, for agreeing to invite me here. I hope that Mr. Abrams and I will be able to tell you about some facts and ideas that will advance the cause of Haitian immigration.

After the earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince on January 12, the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, together with five of his ministers, on a generous impulse, stated, among other things, that the government would expedite the immigration process for Haitians. I believe that by this he meant cases that were in line for permanent residence. In doing this, he wanted to reduce the stress on people from our homeland living here who have made permanent residence applications for their families. That measure was also intended to improve the quality of life of a number of Haitians who were living on the streets of Port-au-Prince, and now in tents. The Prime Minister's announcement gave hope to Canadians of Haitian origin.

However, like us, they did not know and still do not know what instruction has been given to officials for carrying out the government's very good intention. Associations and agencies have had to make submissions to try to find out what procedures have been put in place to achieve this objective, and then inform and reassure our fellow Haitians about the status of their cases.

Personally, I met with all the members of Parliament in my region before I ended up here. In all the media, CIC asked Haitians to write "Haiti" on the envelope with their application, so that officials would know what applications should be processed faster. As well, CIC published a telephone number Haitians could use to check on the status of their case. I must point out that using that telephone number was a waste of time. When you called the number and finally got to speak to a human being, it was only to be told that the available information was on the CIC website. Otherwise, it went to voicemail. I don't have to tell you how frustrating voicemail is when the information you are looking for isn't there.

In the article he wrote on April 19, 2010, Andrew Chung, a Toronto Star journalist, painted a picture of the status of the expedited immigration situation for Haitians. He told us that the Canadian government's immigration target for 2010 was somewhere between 2,358 and 2,435 permanent resident visas. From January 13 to March 27, 2010, 311 visas had been issued. In 2009, for the same period, January to March, 302 visas were issued, for a difference of nine visas for that period of the year. If we go by that number, the speed of visa issuance for Haitians has actually declined, and has hit a plateau of about 1,500 visas for the year. That is far below the objectives set by CIC. I don't believe that our Prime Minister's intention of expediting cases meant issuing fewer visas for the year. We also know that 104 temporary residence permits were issued. Those permits may eventually translate into permanent residence if they were to be extended. It has to be said that there is nothing special about those visas, and that one way or another, a little over 500 of those visas are issued every year. So that has nothing to do with any expediting process.

We see nothing to indicate that the process is being expedited. The absence of anything to show is causing more stress for Canadians of Haitian origin who are waiting for their families and who are sleeping in tents and suffering constant battering from nature. From light rain to downpours, rain can make the difficulties of living in a tent worse, and in some cases has. We are talking about people living in tents in the middle of the rainy season, and we don't know for how long.

Canada tells us that rather than the usual four officers, 30 immigration officers, based in Ottawa and the Dominican Republic, have been assigned to reviewing applications from Haitians. Even though we don't know what they are doing, we want to thank the government for this generous attention. But is this measure effective? Once again, if we go by the number of visas issued by CIC, we would tend to say no.

For strictly humanitarian reasons, when over 200,000 bodies were lying in the streets of Port-au-Prince, Canada transported 1,700 Haitians from Port-au-Prince to Montreal. For the most part, those Haitians were Canadians, and they were presented to the press to show the public that something was being done. The idea of bringing them here was a good one. We thank the government for doing that. But once again, they are not included in the cases that were to be expedited.

Myself, I think the expediting process is underway and we will see the results shortly. I firmly believe this. But I also believe that the stress of not being able to follow what is happening can be harmful for the mental health of some members of the Haitian community living in Canada.

While Haitians are resilient and able to fight against adversity, they do not have the resources they need to overcome it. They need you. They need your help, right away. The Prime Minister's statement that the immigration process would be expedited for Haitians has to have some meaning. Let us work on making it reality. At the Montreal Conference on January 25, the government acknowledged that rebuilding Haiti might take a good 10 years. That tells us, even according to the government's own experts, that the situation for Haitians will not improve until 10 years from now.

At the same time, for humanitarian reasons, Premier Charest took a step forward by stating that Quebec would rearrange its quota in order to accept new sponsorship applications, and Quebec would consider extended family in reviewing those cases. That was a very generous thing for the government of Quebec to do. Unfortunately, Quebec does not have the power to select those immigrants or to give them visas.

Good intentions do not seem to have resulted in good instructions to officials for the process. There are large numbers of Haitians currently living in Canada after claiming refugee status, while waiting for a decision from the Immigration and Refugee Board, the IRB. We know that these people will not be deported. The government has said that.

However, day after day, the Immigration and Refugee Board continues to reject their claims and deny them the right to apply for immigrant status. This approach is certainly not consistent with the government's intention. Its sole purpose is to increase stress and decrease quality of life for these people. Even worse, these people are living in Canada, they can't leave the country and they also can't sponsor their families. This situation is completely incomprehensible for their family members living in Haiti.

I do not believe that the government of Canada really wants to entrap these people to this point, but that is how it looks. From a strictly humanitarian standpoint, the government should give these cases special consideration.

To reduce the stress felt by Haitians living in Canada with precarious status, to allow all Haitians in Canada to have the option of focusing on the welfare of their families, to enable all Haitians in Canada to make sponsorship applications for their families who are now living and will eventually be living in tents for the next 10 years, and to clarify immigration procedures for Haitians living in Canada, I recommend that Parliament offer permanent residence on a humanitarian basis to all Haitians with precarious status currently living on Canadian soil.

In addition, I suggest that a temporary act of Parliament be passed to expedite applications by Haitians, that is, to define the time they will be allowed, from when a case is first examined until it is completed. That law will also define the procedure to be followed in the case of applications from Haitians for the next 10 years. Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Maurizio Bevilacqua]

Thank you very much, Monsieur DuBois.

We'll now hear from Monsieur Joseph Jean-Gilles with the National Council of Citizens of Haitian Origin .

[Joseph Jean-Gilles, Member, Immigration Work Committee and General Director of GAP-VIES, National Council of Citizens of Haitian Origin]

Ladies and gentlemen, members of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, distinguished members of Parliament, I sincerely than the committee for giving CONACOH the opportunity to testify. I will be expanding on the role of Canada since the earthquake, in terms of immigration.

Before that, allow me to briefly introduce CONACOH. The National Council of Citizens of Haitian Origin is an organization that was founded in 1981. It is a platform for coordination and non-partisan political representation for the Haitian communities in the provinces of Canada, and in particular Quebec. Its essential mission is to support its member associations and individual members in advocating for and promoting the collective rights and interests of the Haitian communities in Quebec and Canada. In that role, CONACOH assists in the harmonious integration of Haitian nationals in the host society, by encouraging participation by members of our community in the various spheres of activity in Canadian and Quebec society in relation to employment and to citizenship, education and health. Our mission is also to intensify solidarity activities with Haiti.

Since the earthquake in Haiti, our country of origin, on January 12, the Haitian community has mobilized. CONACOH was the instigator of a committee for solidarity with Haiti, whose objective was to forge links with all actors at various levels, provincial, federal, municipal and educational, and with members of civil society, to support our brothers and sisters here and to support our brothers and sisters in our homeland. The role we intend to play, in that capacity, is not one of support and solidarity with Haiti, but as an advisory body that can provide an informed view of the situation, because or member organizations and we are truly on the ground with people in need who tell us about their needs every day.

The National Council of Citizens of Haitian Origin, CONACOH, would like to congratulate and thank the various governments and government bodies for the promptness and speed with which they have responded, and also the public of Quebec and Canada for their generosity, their support and their solidarity after the disaster that struck our country of origin. We are proud to be citizens of Quebec and Canada. The effort being made at present is remarkable and is appreciated. We have welcomed the decision made to date and the way that actions have been coordinated. We are talking about decisions made and also the intention of making decisions.

My testimony this afternoon will essentially deal with immigration and the role Canada should play in relation to Haiti on the international scene. It can't be said often enough: an exceptional situation calls for exceptional measures, but the situation is urgent at present. More than 100 days after the earthquake, we have the impression, in terms of immigration, that nothing has happened in terms of admitting people directly affected. CONACOH is therefore addressing the government of Canada and saying that we expected, in terms of what we are calling for, at least that people without status would have their situations resolved within three to six months. It is now 100 days, more than three months after.

The other thing, which my colleague before me mentioned, is to make the family reunification criteria more flexible. That criterion needs to be more flexible and allow us to expand the concept of family to include other categories of family members: brothers, sisters and nieces.

We expected that Canada would be able to apply the same measures as those that the UN strongly supported and were applied in Canada in the case of the Kosovars, to allow the people to come directly here and follow the process in Canada. The process takes quite a long time in Port-au-Prince.

When you are in Montreal, you have the impression that Canada stops in Quebec. The federal government should think about developing a national program, in all the provinces and territories, to set a quota and admit Haitian nationals affected by the earthquake. We also think the measures should be harmonized. We know that at present, measures are being taken in Quebec, but we are convinced they are not being harmonized with Ottawa's. If we develop a coast-to-coast program, there has to be some degree of harmonization.

In terms of sponsorship, we think that corporate entities, that is, community organizations, churches and interest groups, can also act as sponsors.

Because of the emergency, we think an exceptional measure should be reinstituted. This type of measure would allow Quebeckers and Canadians of origin who want to, to host, for a limited time, six months, for example, orphans, disaster victims or other people. In some cases, people want to come to Canada, but only for the time it takes to get back on their feet a little.

At the international level, we think Canada should take a leadership role in relation to immigration and promote this exceptional measure to the leaders of friendly countries. That is where the example of the Kosovars comes in. Can Canada not present these cases to the UN and arrange for all the countries in the world that want to will admit people of Haitian origin who are victims of the earthquake?

We know that Canada is interested in rebuilding Haiti, but we want it to be increasingly effective, in terms of involvement. The Haitian diaspora, Canadians of Haitian origin, have to contribute.

Since January 12, a lot of community organizations, wherever they are, have been overloaded. That is the case in Montreal, in particular. They are more or less obliged to offer services. If we want to serve people who come from Haiti, we also have to think about offering financial support for those organizations. We are talking here about newcomers and people living in Canada who are fragile. There are a lot of seniors, children and families in distress.

The only other thing I want to say is thank you, on behalf of the Haitian community and the Haitian people, for having us here this afternoon.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Maurizio Bevilacqua]

Thank you very much.

We'll now hear from Église Baptiste de la Nouvelle Jérusalem.

Jean-Baptiste Sauveur.

[Jean-Baptiste Sauveur, Paster, Église Baptiste de la Nouvelle Jérusalem]

Members of Parliament and members of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, my sincere thanks for the honour you have done me by inviting me to appear before you.

Haiti was dealt a body blow by the horrific earthquake that struck on January 12. That natural disaster sowed panic and chaos in the Haitian universe. The earthquake was a magnitude 7 on the Richter scale, and the epicentre was in Port-au-Prince.

Canada, through the voice of the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and his ministers was among the first countries to go to the scene to offer aid to an entire population that was thrown into utter confusion and left to its fate. This natural but no less devastating phenomenon brought death to hundreds of thousands of families. Thousands of women, thousands of men and children, from all social classes, were tossed onto the streets of Port-au-Prince and of towns in other provinces. Bodies are still lying in the rubble, abandoned. All government buildings, schools, churches, businesses and residential buildings were not spared. It resembles an apocalypse, the end of the world.

The Haitian people have truly witnessed the depth of the generosity of the Canadian people. In a very short time, we have been given tents, drinking water and food, and roads have been repaired. A landing strip, flying medical teams, technicians: everything was put in place, every effort made, to bring aid to the Haitian people in their distress. During that time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and ministers from various departments organized press points to express hope, which can be expressed in one sentence: the Haitian people will not be alone in their pain. The Canadian army was brought in, ships were sent, frigates and destroyers, and professionals were sent to Port-au-Prince, Léogâne, Jacmel, and so on, to respond to the emergency and bring speedy help to the people.

Of all the actions taken, there is one that served as the ignition motor and that is worthy of mention this afternoon. During this both natural and human disaster, the country was cut off from the rest of the world and was without its usual means of communication. While Haitian governments stayed silent, of all the other countries that gave humanitarian aid to our people, it was Canada, and specifically Prime Minister Harper, that made the welcome decision to act without waiting for an official request from Haiti. Mr. Harper was also the only head of state in the world who spent a night with the Haitian people, sleeping in Haiti.

It is when things are bad that you find out who your true friends are. I think this is a strong point that is worthy of mention. We are grateful to you, the Canadian people, and your government. We thank you, from the bottom of our heart. The Haitian people will not forget this surge of generosity from Canada and the invaluable help that will continue into the future with the rebuilding of the country.

Haitians both inside and outside Haiti are counting on you and asking you to support them in rebuilding their country. As well, your help in terms of immigration is significant; that is noted. However, we are hoping for more flexibility in processing applications now underway. It is also crucial to implement a project for seasonal agricultural work contracts to help the people of Haiti combat unemployment, as you have done for Cubans and Mexicans.

Thank you very much, members of Parliament, ministers and Prime Minister. I was overjoyed to accept your invitation. God bless you.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Maurizio Bevilacqua]

Thank you, Mr. Sauveur.

We will now proceed to one seven-minute round.

We'll begin with Monsieur Coderre.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, gentlemen.

[The member spoke in Créole]

The goal of the meeting today is primarily to make constructive suggestions. Obviously, we must not do that from a partisan standpoint. We are talking about a people that has suffered. There are health needs in Haiti. There are construction needs—I don't want to say "reconstruction" because I would not want to see the situation become what it was before. So I will use the word "construction" instead. Haiti has to be guilt. In the domestic circumstances, there is a need for reunification. I was happy to see that adoption was mentioned. But I have always said I am concerned about family reunification, particularly in relation to the domestic issue, the question of immigration. The trauma that has been experienced is truly enormous.

We are privileged, in a way, to have you here to testify, because you help us to understand what you are experiencing on the ground. The purpose of this dialogue is to make sure that we can identify and propose constructive solutions and achieve meaningful results. The Liberal Party of Canada is not satisfied in terms of immigration, in terms of family reunification. I would have liked a program to be developed, somewhat like we did for the Kosovars, but specific to the problem of Haiti. Like you, Mr. Jean-Gilles, I think that an extraordinary situation calls for extraordinary measures.

Now, given that a decision has been made, we have to find concrete ways of expediting the processing of applications. I would like to hear each of you, moving quickly, since we have only seven minutes.

Mr. Jean-Gilles, you have us some very specific recommendations. You yourself took part in an important conference, as a member of CONACOH, to prepare for attending the Montreal Conference.

I am glad to see that there are not just Quebeckers present, and that Mr. DuBois is here from Hamilton. So there are two aspects to this situation: the situation in Quebec with the Canada-Quebec Accord, and the situation for people on the other side of the Ottawa River, which is entirely different.

As a pastor, my friend Mr. Sauveur has to bring all these people together every Sunday to talk to them. He sees some of the despair some people are feeling and he tries to help them.

Quickly, explain for me what people are experiencing at present, on the ground, in terms of immigration. We know what has been done for rebuilding. In terms of immigration, now, what are people telling you at present?

Let's start with Mr. Jean-Gilles.

[Joseph Jean-Gilles]

Essentially, people are telling us that the bureaucracy is very slow. When people try to bring someone from Haiti, it is very difficult. Even in Port-au-Prince, people do not have access to the embassy.

First, there have been no new measures to allow for expedited processing of applications, as we were told. Everyone verifies that. We, personally, at CONACOH, have worked with people who had their access code for consulting their immigration file. Processing of each of those cases is at the same point. That is one of the things we are told. We are also told that the embassy in Port-au-Prince cannot deliver services. There is probably a human resources problem, or I don't know what. We are told that given the number of applications coming from Haiti and Canada, they can't deliver services.

We, at CONACOH, we just in a meeting on Saturday with people from the community to talk about the immigration question. The people stressed that some cases can be resolved here, in Canada. We keep talking about this because it is what the people instructed us to do. Then tell us that this absolutely has to be done, because things are moving very slowly in Port-au-Prince. I think there are some cases that involve temporary resident visa applications that would be processed in the Dominican Republic. But not everyone is able to go to the Dominican Republic to have their application processed. So we can't talk about an expedited process for the people intended to benefit, the clientele, members of the community.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. DuBois, what is happening in Hamilton?

[Bernard DuBois]

I will give you an example. A family of eight people arrived from Haiti. When they landed in Toronto, they were given visitor visas. When they got on the plane in the Dominican Republic, they were told that at the port of entry they would be given temporary resident visas, which would allow them to do things, to live in the country. With a visitor visa, those people have all the problems in the world.

I will use the term in its narrowest sense. One of those people was a 15-month-old baby born in New York. Those people were in Haiti before arriving here. They were all given a health insurance card, except for the baby. Imagine the situation: a mother who has a 15-month-old baby can go to the doctor, but if her child is sick, she has a Hobson's choice. She can't take her child to the hospital; they won't take the child because she has no money to pay. Otherwise, if she crosses the border with her child, she can't come back, because she has a visa for only one entry.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Sauveur, what do people tell you when they confide in you?

[Jean-Baptiste Sauveur]

There are a lot of problems with immigration, in terms of adopting children. Regarding adoption, it seems that it's the same thing, it's impossible.

I know the very specific case of a lady who was injured and pulled out of the rubble. She was brought here, but her child was left in Haiti, injured. The woman was brought here alone, and now nobody knows what to do so the child can come and be with its mother again. This is a big problem, and we don't know who to talk to. Every day, we find ourselves looking at all kinds of problems.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Maurizio Bevilacqua]

Mr. St-Cyr.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you all for being here today.

I would like to start with a somewhat technical question. I think it was Mr. Jean-Gilles who talked about the importance of helping the victims of the earthquake. I don't know whether he intended to use that terminology. We often hear debates about clauses adopted by the two levels of government. In their special programs, you have to prove you are a victim of the earthquake, you are affected by the earthquake.

There are arguments pro and con. There are people who say that since there are already a lot of people to help, we should not also be helping people who are not victims of the earthquake. Others say that these are more administrative hassles, and that it is not always easy to prove that one is a victim of the earthquake.

I would like to know what each of you thinks about this requirement.

[Joseph Jean-Gilles]

The definition says that you have to be personally and directly affected. I think that in terms of both practice and semantics, it is very difficult to prove that one has been directly affected. The definition is fairly broad. I talked to an official and I told him...

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

So you are in favour of eliminating that definition.

[Joseph Jean-Gilles]

Personally, at CONACOH, we would like that requirement to be eliminated. Port-au-Prince is the engine of Haiti. There are people who were outside the city at the time of the earthquake, but who are directly affected, because where they were living or the house of a family member who was housing them in Port-au-Prince was destroyed. That means that the person is, from my point of view, directly affected by the earthquake.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

So you think that criterion should be eliminated.

Mr. DuBois?

[Bernard DuBois]

Me too, I think it should be eliminated. The earthquake happened in Port-au-Prince. Around Port-au-Prince, in a 100 km diameter, people meet that definition. But Haiti is a very small country. So when two million people have to move and leave their place of residence, the other places don't have the necessary infrastructure to take them in. So there is another kind of earthquake happening in those places.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Did you want to add something?

[Jean-Baptiste Sauveur]

Yes. From a psychological point of view, there is a trauma syndrome happening in children now. They don't want to go inside a building, to go to school. That tells you how affected people have really been. The ones who weren't buried under the rubble are still affected by the earthquake.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

My second questions relates to longer-term measures. It was said that extraordinary measures were called for, but at the same time tragedies like these are common. It happened in Kosovo and it happens all over. Should our Parliament not consider setting up a legal framework, while providing for the flexibility to take into account various circumstances, so future governments can respond rapidly in the case of these kinds of tragedies?

At present, the minister often tells us that he can't act, that it's the law, that it has to be obeyed, and that is all. Do you think we should try to look at the question of long-term measures?

[Joseph Jean-Gilles]

I think a big country like Canada, the country of liberty and human rights, cannot simply address the issue of immigration piecemeal. To me, this is a fundamental question. It is part of the values of Quebec and Canada to be welcoming.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Maurizio Bevilacqua]

If I can interrupt for a second, we're having problems with the translation.

Okay. You're now coming in loud and clear.

Please continue.