Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 30th, 2016

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Kent, perhaps you could expand upon the experience of resources being lost from privately sponsored groups.

We've heard complaints across the country—it's not a partisan issue—that resources have been expended, and there has been a disconnect, like a silo effect, of government-sponsored refugees who have been sitting in hotels while privately sponsored refugee groups have facilities available. There hasn't been that sort of cross-silo approach. This is something we've heard loud and clear.

Is there a way the government could break down those silos so that we don't see the story of $6,000 being wasted on accommodations that are sitting empty for months?

[Peter Kent]

Certainly. That follows on the earlier question I didn't have a chance to answer.

The government didn't specifically tell private sponsors to go out and engage in long leases, but they did say to prepare to welcome and to assist in the rapid settlement into Canadian society.

Some groups, in the absence of information, and given the dealings between the SAH applications submitted to government and the lack of feedback information during that processing, and being aware of the accelerated volume of refugees arriving in November and December in cities like Toronto, which I'm familiar with, and recognizing the shortage of affordable housing, went out to begin to make sure that when their sponsored families or individuals arrived in Canada there was an appropriate place for them.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Maybe I could clarify the exuberant remarks of one of my colleagues over here. What you're saying is that when the government said we're bringing in x number of refugees, that was in part a clear signal to the privately sponsored refugee community to get ready, because they were going to have someone in a very short period of time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

You have 10 seconds.

[Peter Kent]

They saw it because most of the refugees at the beginning, the privately sponsored refugees, were arriving by the hundreds. For example, the Armenian community in Toronto was working 24/7 to meet them at the airport, get them back, and begin to try to find the resources to settle them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Mr. Kent.

Ms. Kwan is next. You have seven minutes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much to both of the witnesses.

I appreciate, Mr. Kent, your coming to this table, leaving partisan politics aside, and presenting yourself as a privately sponsored individual.

To that end I'm particularly interested in exploring the concept of your support for the government to waive the transportation loans for all refugees. Am I assuming correctly that your perspective is for that loan to be waived for all refugees and not just Syrian refugees, irrespective of when they arrived?

[Peter Kent]

No, I'm talking about this program.

Iin my closing remarks I said the government promised during the campaign, but the government said we can do more, Canada can do more, and this was seen as on top of the 285,000 to 300,000 immigrants and refugees who are normally brought into Canada. My interpretation was that the Syrian refugees were to be seen as above and beyond and as a special project along the lines of the Vietnamese refugees almost four decades ago.

I agree with the suggestion that it be based on need and on assistance, but there's—

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Sorry, maybe I can—

[Peter Kent]

Before November 4 and after February 29 it was a very different situation for private sponsors because their travel costs were picked up in that period to hit the government's targets and were cut off after that.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

That's correct.

Are you saying, then, that the government should continue to waive the loans for refugees?

[Peter Kent]

For the Syrians, for this particular program.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Only for Syrian refugees. Then how do you square this circle to treat refugees equally? I think those were your words. That's not treating refugees equally. It's treating certain classes of refugees equally.

I would have thought if we're to suggest that refugees should be treated equally, we should assume all refugees are in a place of crisis when they're leaving their country of origin, and that when they come here, they have the same demands and needs and therefore should be treated equally with respect to the loans.

[Peter Kent]

They certainly shouldn't receive demand notices from collection agencies 30 days after they arrive in Canada.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Tell me what you know about the hardships the Syrian refugees have experienced with regard to the collection of loans and the collection agency demands on them. Do you have any...?

[Peter Kent]

I don't have any first-hand experience.

I know thousands are waiting in Lebanon to move to Canada. I would suggest that the government made this a priority refugee program and should continue that program apace.

I will add to the question on discrimination with regard to some of the processing. I know of at least three Christian families who have been told by officials in the Beirut embassy that they haven't established their refugee claim by reason of a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race or religion.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

I'd like to explore the issue around resettlement.

The looming problem, of course, is that month 13 is around the corner for many refugees. Many of them have spent months at a hotel waiting to be resettled. In terms of month 13 for privately sponsored refugees, do you have any sense of what might happen to your family?

In month 13, will you exit the arrangement, and then those families will...? So you'll continue to support them?

[Peter Kent]

Absolutely.

The private sponsors, particularly in the communities I've been working with, are bringing in members of their distant communities.

The Armenians from Aleppo have been persecuted. Many of them were displaced by the Armenian genocide a hundred years ago, but the community itself reaches out. I certainly have nothing to offer in the way of orthodox or evangelical religion or Armenian culture, but I am there to provide the financial support, and the community is there to provide the broader embrace of—

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

So your view, then, on month 13 is that the support will continue?

[Peter Kent]

Certainly in my case it will, and in the cases of those private sponsors I know.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

With regard to the situation of government-assisted refugees, according to the information we have been provided by government officials, in most instances people are in quite a tight situation because the housing costs are so high. In many situations, in fact, by the time the government-assisted refugees pay their rent, they're already actually in the red, given the income assistance rate. Do you have any thoughts on how best to assist those families who are struggling? Right now they are living in poverty.

[Peter Kent]

As I suggested in my remarks, for those who are having financial difficulties and who are running into short-term cash-flow problems, I would suggest that there should be an assistance program and perhaps a repayable loan program, but they should not be handed over to collection agencies for short-term demand.

Not all of them have difficulties. Some are arriving with resources and access to financial support of their own. I think that even in the case of air transport that is still outstanding, I know refugees who are endeavouring to make those payments, but there should be a period of accommodation, given their resources and their ability to get settled in on their own.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Mr. Kent, you have five seconds.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Should they be offered forgivable loans?

[Peter Kent]

That's something to be considered. I'm not an authority in that area.