Thank you.
Evidence of meeting #15 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 syrian.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #15 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 syrian.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
May 30th, 2016 / 4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd also like to thank the two witnesses for appearing before us here today and for making a number of different recommendations.
If I could join my two colleagues, I'm also somewhat concerned about Mr. Kent's conversion on the road to Damascus, if you will.
I have an article here from 2014 in which you laud the humanitarian traditions within our immigration and refugee system. It's dated early 2014.
I note here that you said nothing about the Syrian refugee crisis or the need for Canada to actually contribute to settling Syrians. Is that correct?
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
No. I don't know which article you're referring to. I was on the border of Jordan and western Syria and Iraq, watching and welcoming Syrian refugees walking across the desert carrying their life's possessions, and I wrote quite extensively on that when I returned in January 2014.
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
I posted pictures. I used social media and visited the Zaatari camp. I also remarked on the fact that the oppressed minorities, as has already been mentioned, don't go to the UN camp very often because the oppression is worse in the camps than it was in Syria.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
I suspect I'm referring to the same article. It's the article in which you take Mr. Bernie Farber to task.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Having reviewed this, I see no indication on your part that as a country we should do a better job bringing in refugees from Syria, but I digress.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
Yes. It was not particularly long. It was a response to Mr. Farber.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
At that particular juncture in 2014, Canada had committed itself to bringing in 1,300 refugees from Syria, of which 1,100 were privately sponsored.
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
I'll correct you there. The commitment was to 25,000 Iraqi and Syrian refugees, of which, at that point in 2014, the number was around 1,300 but growing. The commitment was to continue and to extend, but you're talking now about not quite two and a half years ago, and the severity of the Syrian displacement was only beginning to penetrate the world's consciousness after the Iraqi displacement into Syria and from Syria into the surrounding countries of Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Okay. In any event, I'm very happy that you have a very different approach to this issue now, and you are asking that the Canadian government do a much better job in terms of welcoming refugees from Syria.
4:10 p.m.
As an Individual
Well, it's to be consistent. I'm only asking for them to be consistent.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
One of the challenges we have faced, admittedly, has been the deep cuts that were made to settlement services in 2010 and 2011. That really fundamentally undermined the capacity of settlement agencies to assist as immigrants and refugees were coming into the country, and that is an issue that they are still facing to this day, because they.... When did you realize that this was not something that the—
4:10 p.m.
As an Individual
For the last 15 years I've been involved with TRIEC, the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council. I've been well aware, and Canada, as I said, over the decades, has been exceptionally welcoming. I can't answer.... Again, I'm here as a private sponsor, speaking to the wonderful acceleration but the unintended consequences of your party's promise in the last election.
There was a steady and capable accommodation under way before October 19. In the rush to hit the 25,000 target, first by the end of the year and then by the end of February, and initially on the backs of the private sponsors, great burdens were created, and I think that entirely different burdens or frustrations have now been created with the sudden deceleration after the government hit its target of 25,000.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
If I could, I'll just ask you this, then. I understand that you're saying again that we should do a much better job. What would you say the government should spend on bringing in refugees from Syria?
4:10 p.m.
As an Individual
The government should complete the promises they made, and I think those promises are only half fulfilled at the moment, certainly with regard to the privately sponsored refugees and the SAHs. New quotas haven't been issued to the private SAHs. In some cases, it's a matter of 100 individuals. There's capacity for some SAHs, and certainly with the communities I've been working with, the Melkite church and the Armenian community, there's capacity for several thousand more. They could be accommodated over the next few months very easily.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Would you say you're comfortable with the amount that has been spent so far? If not, how much more do you think the government should commit?
4:10 p.m.
As an Individual
Well, I think much more was spent in the rush to hit a target in an unreasonably short period of time. I think it should have been done over a more controlled and regulated period.
If we take another 20,000, I think that's wonderful as long as, again, they're properly selected, processed, and screened, but the reality is that most of the refugees in the Middle East today want eventually to go home. For the 85,000 or 100,000 in the Zaatari camp and the other camps in Jordan and those in the economies in the region, the reality is that they're not going to be accepted by countries of the developed world. They will eventually have to go home, and one hopes to a peaceful—
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj
Thank you, Mr. Kent.
Mr. Saroya is next, please, for five minutes.