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?