Sure.
Evidence of meeting #122 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was countries.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #122 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was countries.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:05 p.m.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
—were processed through the UNHCR.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
I meant the initial tranche.
The motion to have the special program came about because there were no genocide survivors, or maybe there were five or six referred in the initial tranche, prior to the motion being passed in the House of Commons, which precipitated a special program.
4:05 p.m.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
As you know, the resettlement program is for refugees. Those you are speaking about were still in their country of origin, northern Iraq, Kurdistan in other terms, and were still under the jurisdiction of their own government.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Sure, so I'll ask again, because we've been through the reasons. For example, you've just stated it. These are genocide survivors who have difficulty making it to one of your camps and have testified that they—
4:05 p.m.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
No, I didn't say that. I said they have chosen to remain in Iraq, in northern Iraq, and some of them are crossing into Turkey. Some of them had decided to go to Lebanon. I met some of them there. It's their choice where they...if they felt safe in northern Iraq, that was their decision. There they were supported by UNHCR and the Kurdistan authorities—
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Would you characterize northern Iraq during the ISIS genocide of the Yazidis as a safe place for Yazidis?
4:05 p.m.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
By the time they had reached northern Iraq, it was a safe place, yes.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
4:05 p.m.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
They were receiving appropriate medical treatment. Some of them had special needs, which required—
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
To clarify, I'm looking at the period from approximately August 2014 to November 2016. Are you suggesting that during that period, Yazidis were safe in northern Iraq?
4:05 p.m.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
I'm not suggesting that. I said that by the time there was a request to the UNHCR to see whether a program could be established for specific cases, they were in northern Iraq, which had been stabilized and where they were receiving care, perhaps not sufficient care but care nonetheless, from the Kurdistan authorities, the UN and the NGO community.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Was the UN aware of the humanitarian situation facing the Yazidi people in northern Iraq during the period I just specified?
4:05 p.m.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Yes, we have approximately 600 colleagues on the ground.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
How is it that the United Nations did not provide a recommendation for special programming to help or identify victims of genocide to be referred to Canada as part of the 30,000, or whatever the number was for the Syrian refugee initiative, given that a lot of these women were actually incarcerated and held captive in Syria?
4:05 p.m.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Let me clarify again that the resettlement program to Canada is for refugees, so it's for those who have crossed—
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
4:05 p.m.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Let me just—
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
I do. I understand that there's a technical term, that you have a technical term on refugees and IDP. I am questioning whether your selection process helps those who are most in need—
4:05 p.m.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Yes, and that's going to be my response.
We are not looking at whether a woman has been raped as part of genocide or has been raped in another context. A rape survivor is a rape survivor. If she needs to be resettled to have access to medical care, we are not going to look—
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
How could one of those women...? You're suggesting they had a choice. How could a woman who escaped sexual slavery get to one of your camps and get into the process that was used to select these people to come to Canada?
4:10 p.m.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
In the cases of Syria and Iraq, all the people who arrive in a third country, like Turkey, Jordan or Lebanon, are processed through a registration system.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
How could they have gotten to your camp, after they had survived sexual slavery? How could they have gotten into your selection process?
4:10 p.m.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Alors, first of all, most of the refugees and the displaced do not live in camps. There is no such concept as camps.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative