Evidence of meeting #11 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was haiti.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Maurizio Bevilacqua
We will now hear from Centre des Femmes Interculturel Claire, from Micheline Cantave, director, and Michel Nemours.
As well, we will hear from Help Services for Newcomers and Immigrants Inc., Keder Hyppolite, executive director, and Serge Bien Aimé, senior immigration counsellor.
We will also hear from Regroupement des Femmes Haitiennes de la Montérégie, Josette Jacques.
We will here from Micheline Cantave first.
Welcome. You may begin.
Micheline Cantave Director, Centre des Femmes Interculturel Claire
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for giving us the opportunity to testify in these precincts about the Canadian government's participation in the vast reconstruction, or "refoundation", process that our country of origin needs after the murderous earthquake that shook it on January 12.
First, on behalf of the Haitian community in Canada, on behalf of the Haitian people and on behalf of myself, I want to say thank you to the Canadian Parliament which mobilized around the issue, thank you to the Canadian people, thank you to the government for its support and its assistance.
The day after the earthquake, the Canadian government expressed its condolences to the Haitian government and people. It took the opportunity to announce significant aid. In addition to that there was the contribution by the Canadian public, which it decided to match. We also have to consider that its offers were adjusted as the damage and need arose. These are all concrete actions that must be applauded and for which we must be grateful.
The Canadian government also deployed heavy equipment to help save many lives of people trapped in the rubble. It also sent specialized teams capable of dealing with this catastrophic situation. The work done by those men and women was very helpful and much appreciated. They cleared some roads in the southeast, and particularly in Jacmel. They treated the victims and put up tents for the homeless. They provided medications, and in short they contributed greatly to improving the fate of our brothers and sisters there.
We must note that the Canadian government brought our fellow Canadians home and recognize that act properly, because it allowed a lot of stressed out, anxious families to take a breath and return to relatively normal life. We should also mention the efforts made by the Canadian government to bring adopted children, to allow the parents of those children to get them home quickly. We are talking here about Operation Stork.
Through the Canadian International Development Agency, the Canadian government promised a lot of things: building hospitals, buildings to house the various government departments, training public servants, and so on. Prime Minister Harper's trip to Haiti, on board a military plane to distribute drugs and sanitation equipment, must not go unnoticed. It demonstrated his sympathy with the Haitian people and the determination of this government to support the Haitian leaders. The Haitian community took note of all these actions. In addition, the efforts of Canadian missions or NGOs on the ground were palpable.
The Canadian Red Cross, Oxfam-Québec, CIDA, the Canadian Embassy in Haiti, all these institutions did their jobs remarkably. The Haitian people will remember, and will also remember what should be done.
The Canadian government has shown generosity to our victims, the Canadian government was one of the first to answer "here" on the ground. Its financial contribution is significant. The human resources deployed in Haiti have been very helpful. But considering the extent of the situation, the Haitian community's expectations are and remain unmet. Unmet, for the simple and good reason that many of our brothers and sisters are still sleeping in makeshift tents when the rainy season has already started, the season that will be followed by cyclone and hurricane season. The situation is going to get worse. Unmet, because nothing has been done by the federal government to facilitate participation by the Haitian diaspora living in Canada in the reconstruction process.
The Department of Foreign Affairs did facilitate participation by a Canadian delegation composed of Haitians at the Washington Conference. However, we have to go beyond conferences. Many of us in the diaspora would like to be on the ground. We are just waiting for an opening from the federal government. The Haitian community's expectations are and remain unmet because the federal government has not announced its immigration policy.
While Quebec is talking about family reunification, the federal government, when it comes to new measures, is proposing that we put "Haiti" on the envelopes so applications from Haitians will be given priority processing.
We would draw the attention of committee members to the fact that this measure is not sufficient for a country that has been hit by this kind of disaster. We are not asking the federal government to open its doors to one and all. But if Quebec is proposing to admit 3,000 additional Haitians, the federal government can ask the other provinces to follow Quebec's example. In the face of a tragedy like this, the language barrier will not hold up.
Other measures can be made more flexible. For example, why can a child not sponsor their mother or their aunt or uncle? The Haitian concept of family is much broader than the one applied by the federal government. So we think there is urgency and danger in delaying. The federal government can do better. It can start, for example, by regularizing the status of refugee claimants. That is another measure that should be reviewed, and I think this is the time to do it.
When a husband or wife has to wait three or four years to bring the other partner here, that is a serious problem. After so long, the relationship becomes very fragile. As a result, there are separations and single-parent families, and children drop out of school and are delinquent. We think the federal government has to look at this issue. As the director of a woman's centre, I know what I'm talking about. I can give you various examples of this problem, which in my opinion deserves special attention.
We applaud the federal government's generosity to our brothers and sisters who are victims of the earthquake, because it decided, for example, to match all money collected from the Canadian public. But do you know that some NGOs working with vulnerable segments of Haitian society are no longer being funded by CIDA? It seems that the government is giving with one hand and taking with the other, because those vulnerable populations have become more vulnerable. At a time when groups of women, peasants, are in desperate straits after this terrible earthquake, some NGOs are having to discontinue their projects, abandoning these people in their misfortune and their misery, telling them that reconstruction will happen soon. The needs are upstream and downstream at the same time. There must be consistency in order to be effective. The Canadian government's involvement in reconstruction must not prevent CIDA from working with local NGOs.
I will close by saying this, ladies and gentlemen. Whatever your political affiliation, your political ideology, I call on you for what you have done or what you can do to help these people, these women and children who are rotting in misery, hunger and thirst, in the heat and cold. Their suffering knows no political stripe. So I call on your, members of this committee, on behalf of all the women in the world who are standing with the women of Haiti, to make yourselves heard or to bring your expertise and strength to bear to help them relieve their inhuman suffering. The Haitian community, the community organizations, believe in all of Parliament, to once again help this small country whose population wants to continue travelling the path of human existence.
Thank you for your attention.
Liberal
Keder Hyppolite Executive Director, Help Services for Newcomers and Immigrants Inc.
My dear committee members, I am here today with great interest, and how appropriately, to thank you for the opportunity you have given the Haitian community to testify on various aspects of the devastating earthquake that struck the capital of the Republic of Haiti on January 12. That was the day when Haiti didn't answer. There was no one at the other end of the line. The survivors did what they could, with what they had. May God continue to protect them. They are a faithful people.
The testimony I give you today relates to three essential components of the situation: Canadian pride, Canada's response, and hope.
On the subject of Canadian pride, I have to say that we, the members of the Haitian community, are proud to be Canadian citizens. We will still and always support the maple leaf. We live in a country where rights are protected, and that is no small thing.
Every time we have an opportunity, we ask for something for the Haitian community. We always seize the opportunity, because it is the only way and the only time we can meet with the people and structures responsible, who can allow us to move forward and make people aware of what is happening in the Haitian community. Ottawa is close to Montreal, but Ottawa is also far away from us.
The timely response of the Canadian government was expressed in concrete actions, including the deployment of the DART team of Canadian army specialists. That was the second time the team was deployed abroad since the tsunami in Asia. This meant providing drinking water for a category of forgotten people and providing immediate medical assistance to people who had not seen a doctor for years. The government expressed its desire to be close to the people in their distress by sending francophones, people who speak French, and people of Haitian origin in whose faces the victims could see themselves reflected.
I will not repeat everything that has been said by the people who spoke before me, but I confirm their words, because they are accurate and appropriate. I will add, however, that Canada has shown that it could lift itself above the fray when it came to flying to the rescue of a friendly country in its own neighbourhood.
The last point, but not the least, is hope. Canada gives us hope. That hope must not become dimmed. Canada must continue to support the victims and their parents and children. There are people suffering because they are unable to reunite their family. And especially, there are the ones who are unable to return to a devastated country. Port-au-Prince truly is Haiti. There are people without papers, refugee claimants waiting for a hearing. We know of nearly 2,000 people who are waiting for a hearing so they can get refugee status. There are people have been under a moratorium for over three years. We are asking what is going to become of these people, most of whom have no work permits. They cannot receive public services because they are neither citizens nor permanent residents. There are students who are no longer receiving support from their parents. Their dreams have been brutally shattered. We have to make sure they are not shattered forever.
Canada cannot slow down at the point when Haitian Canadians need its help the most. Organizations that provide support for the population are no longer receiving support from CIDA, in some cases. Life has to go on during the rebuilding. The people who were receiving that aid still need it, more urgently than ever, because of the displaced persons who are swelling the population in the rural areas. No, it cannot stop there. The Canadian government must not let the work already done, that was applauded by the entire population of Canada, of any origin, be overshadowed. Still today, the Canadian public is aware of the tragic consequences of that earthquake. They are ready to act to come to the aid of the people still living in Haiti and to integrate the people who want to join their families here into Canada.
On behalf of Help Services for Newcomers and Immigrants, which I represent today and which Mr. Bien Aimé will represent in a moment, I congratulate you on this initiative and thank you again for giving the Haitian community an opportunity to speak to you again about the other important decisions Canada will have to make to improve the situation of families and young people.
I will be prepared to provide you with suggestions during the question period. But before we get there, and before Mr. Bien Aimé introduces you to the organization and the services we provide to the displaced persons who are in Montreal, you may notice that the Haitian community is very united. The people came before you today to speak with one voice, to ask for the same things.
We will be in constant contact, from Hamilton, which we have only learned of today, to Ottawa, and from Quebec City to Toronto. I visit the Haitian community in Canada regularly. I have had an opportunity to travel around Canada in the course of my work with immigrants and refugees. This has given me a fairly broad idea of the views of organizations that work on settlement and resettlement of people living in Canada.
If the Canadian government gives these groups the resources, they can provide services to people from other places. We firmly believe, and I am the first to have done it, that people of Haitian origin can integrate into Canada, specifically within francophone groups in the various provinces, including the Fransaskois and Franco-Ontarian communities, and on the other side of the river, with the people of Gatineau.
I am going to stop there for the moment because I want to allow my colleague to address the question of immigration and services. I can then answer any questions you may want to ask me.
Serge Bien Aimé Senior Immigration Counsellor, Help Services for Newcomers and Immigrants Inc.
My dear committee members, I have the very great honour this evening of presenting you with the observations of Help Services for Newcomers and Immigrants on the Canadian and Quebec sponsorship programs in the wake of the terrible earthquake that ravaged the capital of Haiti and the surrounding area.
Help Services for Newcomers and Immigrants is a multi-ethnic non-profit organization. Its primary job is to provide newcomers and immigrants with any service that will facilitate their efforts in integrating into and adapting to Canadian and Quebec society.
At present, our main service is employability development and support for newcomers who are having a lot of trouble entering the Canadian and Quebec labour market, in particular when they are looking for a job that matches their qualifications. In spite of the requirements of its SAE project, employment assistance services, since SANQI was created, on May 30, 1978, it has never abandoned its primary objective: helping visitors, students, independent immigrants, sponsored immigrants, skilled workers, seasonal workers and refugee claimants to overcome their disappointment and understand the North American situation so they can move confidently toward achieving the dreams that prompted them to leave their country of origin.
Since the terrible earthquake that ravaged Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, and the area around it on January 12, 2010, SANQI has not known where to turn. There is increased demand for information, interviews and help filling out forms. For Quebec, there are 23 pages of forms for the program to get a Quebec selection certificate, not to mention the federal form. SANQI has no additional staff, because we have no financial resources to enable us to hire someone to handle these cases, numerous as they are. That creates a lot of dissatisfied people who can't all get appropriate service from our organization.
With its own resources, SANQI has been able to provide reply to 215 telephone requests for information and do 47 interviews at which forms have to be completed or corrected. SANQI has been on four community radio broadcasts to explain the Canadian and Quebec programs for relatives who want to sponsor a family member. SANQI has taken part in two workshops organized by the National Council of Citizens of Haitian Origin, CONACOH. It has also taken part in several meetings with the Table de concertation au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes.
After analyzing the situation, SANQI determined that the sponsorship program as it is currently designed does not meet the expectations of the Haitian community in Quebec and Canada, for the following reasons. The program is intended first for people seriously affected by the earthquake; that criterion is vague. It talks about their ability to integrate, how these people are going to be able to integrate into Quebec and Canada. In terms of the financial capacity of the sponsors and co-sponsors, the financial assessment of sponsors and co-sponsors is very demanding. The five-year commitment by sponsors and co-sponsors is thought to be too long. The rule about not splitting up members of a family, even if there are some who do not come immediately, who don't want to come or who are already in another country with a family member, could have reduced the financial requirements in some cases.
Quebec's desire to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, is laudable, but the route taken is full of thorns.
The federal government talks about issuing temporary visas for some victims to let them catch their breath in Canada, but the criteria have not been amended and the officers are inflexible. The Canadian Embassy in Haiti cannot consider issuing this kind of visa at the moment. Its capacity is undercut by the earthquake damage. It is busy finalizing the applications in the system.
The Canadian Embassy has opened an office in Santo Domingo. That has had a negative impact on disaster victims who don't have a cent to pay for a Dominican visa, transportation, hotels, taxis and Canadian visa fees, only to be refused on the ground that if they come to Canada they won't want to return to Haiti. And still it is family members in Canada who have to waste money they don't have, most of the time, in addition to meeting their basic needs.
Canada is obstinately maintaining its health and safety standards. At the height of the problems, applicants had to travel to Cap-Haïtien in the north or Cayes in the south, at exorbitant expense, to undergo the medical examinations. In addition to that there are the difficulties involved in getting a police certificate, because of the collapse of the department of justice, the courts and the police stations. SANQI is asking, for offenders whom Canada removes, why Canada doesn't wait a little, knowing that the national penitentiary doesn't exist now and all the inmates have run off.
Why can't Canada give visitor visas to minor children of accepted refugee claimants who have filed a permanent resident application for the families? And last, why do Canada and Quebec not combine efforts to offer a flexible program for members of the Haitian community, who have been contributing at all levels to the development of their adopted country for over 60 years?
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Maurizio Bevilacqua
Thank you, Mr. Bien Aimé.
Our next witness will be Ms. Josette Jacques.
Welcome.
Josette Jacques Regroupement des Femmes Haïtiennes de la Montérégie
Good evening, everyone.
I want to congratulate the members of Parliament and members of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration especially.
I also want to thank Eugénia Romain, who made it possible for me to take part in this meeting.
I would like to thank you for the opportunity I have been given this evening to tall you about the questions, for you to hear my voice and the voices of all the people who are victims of this disaster, who are defenceless and fighting for their survival. I was not able to bring my notes, I left them in my car. I came here with a friend.
The earthquake on January 12 left us all puzzled. I do not want to repeat what others have said, but on behalf of all Haitians in the diaspora and of myself, I want to thank the entire planet, and particularly Canadians and Quebeckers, for their outpouring of generosity and their understanding for the victims of the disaster in Haiti.
Since I will am called on this evening to talk about aid to the disaster victims in Haiti, I have to tell you that I am like everyone else, I heard in the media that Canada... I know that Canada was the first country to speak up after the earthquake, the next day. People have received aid, certainly.
But if we go by what people have told me, what I have heard... People talk about aid, but I think Canada could have done better. We have been hearing people talking since this testimony began. Everyone talks about immigration, which is the sensitive point, the sore point, the point that I, personally, really consider to be a farce.
People in Haiti are impatiently waiting for that aid. People in Haiti are voicing criticism. The people who are here say it is bad faith because immigration is open to everyone, even people who are rotting there, who are eating dust. People wonder what is going on.
I am a member of the Regroupement des Femmes Haïtiennes de la Montérégie and I am the president of the Centre haïtien d'action familiale, which has been providing help non-stop since 6:00 on the morning of January 13. We work in the shadow, you don't see us on television, nobody talks about us, but all the things we accomplish are huge. I can't even say that we have resources; we have none. We try to help the people who come in, from morning to night, every day, who call, who want this and want that.
The centre has had the difficult job of accompanying two Montreal city police officers to the home of a mother to tell her that her son is dead. Then, the centre, with the help of the police, was able to bring three children whose mother is in Quebec to Canada. We arrange to find decent housing for people who have been lucky enough to come here and who have no resources. We try to find them apartments for really lower than low rent.
We are wondering how Canada can do more. The people who are rotting in Haiti have enormous needs. They are suffering from malnutrition and from a lack of hygiene, and they are living off the land. They are housed in improvised makeshift tents most of the time. To survive, these people have to stay standing up all night when it rains, because the ground is mud. The so-called tents are made of plastic that costs a dollar at the store. It is thin and of low quality. When it rains and the wind blows, these plastic sheets tear. They have to put on clothing to protect themselves and shelter themselves.
We are wondering what Canada could do to build temporary shelters made of resistant plastic, with a roof and a door, so that people have protection. I are not telling you anything new when I say that children and women are being raped, repeatedly. People do not dare to report these acts, out of fear of reprisals. I have a sister who, in a quirk of fate, went to Haiti. She came back last week. She had gone to work with a group of Americans. She saw that in some tents there were police and soldiers with guns. She wondered whether she was in Afghanistan or Iraq. Why are the people being sent there not doing anything to provide security for people?
A lot has been said about immigration. I hope these recommendations will not fall on deaf ears. The government had promised to expedite the immigration process, but we are wondering to what extent that promise has been kept. If I go by what we see at the centre, one tenth of the people who come here do not have the resources to bring a family member here, because they have nothing.
I would like to say that the centre, which has no resources, has set up a grief workshop for people who were there and have come back, who can't sleep at night, who tremble and have horrific nightmares. People there are dehydrated. They need psychological assistance, but they have nothing. People here need help too, but one way or another the CLSCs are looking after them a little. There are people in Haiti, however, children who can't sleep at night, who have nightmares, who scream, who see things passing in front of their eyes. We wonder what can be done to improve their situation.
Before closing, I would like us to rise and observe a minute of silence in memory of all the people who disappeared in the rubble. This is undoubtedly unusual, but because I have been invited, I am entitled to ask this.
[A moment of silence observed.]
Thank you.
I would like to add my sincere apologies for leaving my notes in my car.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Maurizio Bevilacqua
Thank you very much.
Now we'll proceed to questions and comments. We have only four minutes. I would ask for members to please keep their questions to the point and for those responding to keep their answers tight so that we can get more questions and answers in.
Thank you so much.
Mr. Karygiannis will go first.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
I'll share my time with my colleague Monsieur Coderre.
I want to thank you for coming, and certainly, please accept my condolences. My prayers are with you.
When the officials from the ministry were here, they told us that in the first two months, they had allowed in about 260 people, cases, to come up. If you figure that out, if there are 260 people in the first two months, you can put that at 130 per month. And we have thousands of people to come up.
I'm wondering, Mr. Hyppolite, if you would guesstimate the amount of time it was going to take for the people who are applying...and the government is so fast-tracking, how long is it going to take to facilitate the people coming to Canada?
Executive Director, Help Services for Newcomers and Immigrants Inc.
I know that structures are very tough to move. I think it probably takes too long. They can ease the process by saying we'll create a timeframe of, let's say, six or seven months. It's difficult.
Before the earthquake, the Canadian government had already received about 2,200 demands, and 1,500 from Quebec, so those have not proceeded yet.
Plus, for those we have now in Haiti in line waiting to come here, I cannot imagine how long it would take. I would suggest you take about a six- or seven-month timeframe and give the civil servants a chance to process the files by bringing people over here in Canada, as Mr. Jean-Gilles and Mr. DuBois said, because that would ease the process and create a special moment for people in order to deal with that issue.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Do you believe, realistically, sir, that in six months the backlog will be eaten up and dealt with?
Executive Director, Help Services for Newcomers and Immigrants Inc.
The backlog will not be settled in six months, but if you have a timeframe of six months, you can have more than are asked to be treated now.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
How long do you think it's going to take, realistically?
Executive Director, Help Services for Newcomers and Immigrants Inc.
Realistically, it should not take more than one year. I know for a fact that immigration matters take a very long time, and they have to check many things. Plus, in Haiti now, you don't have security checks, and you don't have the ability to control many things, so those things can be overseen when you bring people over here. They can do that.
Liberal
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
As was said earlier, we have to make sure that applications are expedited. Ms. Cantave, we are familiar with the Centre des Femmes Interculturel Claire. You help women there. The trauma experienced in terms of what is happening down there is enormous. People are telling you that they aren't able to bring their family members here and they are finding it completely impossible to get news. We have all heard the same thing. There is apparently a bureaucracy problem. The processing of applications should be expedited. The medical and security checks are also a problem. The embassy has had difficulties, but they are trying to do as much as they can.
How could we use the organizations that have expertise, both in immigration and in assistance for immigrating? I'm not talking about assistance for immigrants, but in assistance for immigrating. How can we use Immigration Canada and the representatives of the Quebec government program to make sure that the backlog is dealt with? How can we get straight to results? Have you been approached in that regard?
Ms. Cantave could answer briefly before turning it over to Mr. Hyppolite.
Director, Centre des Femmes Interculturel Claire
Myself, I have not been approached. However, as Ms. Jacques said, all the organizations in Montreal or Quebec are involved. A grant made it possible for me to round out my year-ends, but since the disaster, the earthquake, I am seeing a lot of women who have suffered trauma, a lot of requests for housing and clothing. As well, many people are coming to see us to help them fill out forms. Because of a lack of financial resources, those people's requests are being denied. I think we should at least receive a grant so we can help those people. The workload is going up, but we can't say no. When a woman in distress comes in, even if it is 5:00 or 6:00 in the evening, I close the office door and I see her. I have no choice.
Executive Director, Help Services for Newcomers and Immigrants Inc.
I would like to clarify something.
In the 1980s, there was a program for Sri Lankans. The federal government allowed community groups to support people so they could come to Canada. When the government of Quebec granted permanent residence to people who were here illegally, there was an agreement with our office to help people fill out the documents.
We can create the same kind of atmosphere by giving some responsibility to community organizations like Help Services for Newcomers and Immigrants or SANQI, the Bureau de la Communauté Chrétienne des Haïtiens de Montréal, the Maison d'Haïti or other organizations that have experience in immigration. We have 32 years' experience working in immigration. We can easily help people meet all the requirements of the process.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
Thank you.
The members of the committee wanted to meet with you to compare your experience on the ground with what is being reported to us by immigration officers. On that point, I would like to know your comments and your own perception of three things we were told about by CIC.
First, we were told about the reopening of medical facilities that apparently happened on March 8, and that, according to CIC, would have a positive impact on the processing of applications. Do you have an opinion on that.
Concerning family groups, we were told about the possibility of using DNA tests to establish filiation when people no longer have documents in their possession. What is your perception of that, on the ground?
As well, we were told that the Haitian authorities had started issuing birth certificates, death certificates and passports again, to applicants who lost their documents in the earthquake. Are you aware of that? What is your perception of what is happening on the ground in this regard?
Executive Director, Help Services for Newcomers and Immigrants Inc.
The Haitian government has no more passports. I was at a meeting on Monday, and the Haitian consulate in Montreal has no more passports. That is what was said by people...