Honourable members, good afternoon.
I would like to thank you for the kind invitation. I am honoured to be here today to speak on behalf of the Catholic Refugee Sponsors Council. I am one of the founding members.
In the time I have today, I would like to talk about three things.
First, I will give you a background about the Catholic Refugee Sponsors Council and myself. Second, I will talk about the repatriation and resettlement of refugees in need of protection. Third, I will talk about the two streams of refugees who come to Canada: the government-assisted refugees, or GARs, and the privately sponsored refugees, the PSRs.
The CRSC was established in 2013 after the Second National Catholic Conference on Resettlement, which took place in Toronto in December 2012. At the conference, it was felt that there was a need to form a national body for Catholic refugee sponsors to share experiences and knowledge about refugee resettlement programs, given the important role that those agencies play in sponsoring refugees. There are about 100 sponsorship agreement holders across Canada, and about 30 of them are Catholic agencies.
In 2015, all Catholic SAHs combined privately sponsored more than 7,500 refugees. About 50% were Syrian nationals. Iraqi nationals were the second-largest group, in addition to Somali and Afghan refugees.
I personally started getting involved with refugee resettlement advocacy in 2005. A group of concerned Canadians grouped together trying to raise awareness and help Iraqi Christians and other minorities when the war in Iraq escalated to a civil war. In 2013, as a result of the Second National Catholic Conference on Resettlement, Catholic sponsorship agreement holders started to advocate for resettling Syrian refugees as the civil war in Syria intensified.
In June 2013, I joined staff and volunteers of the Office for Refugees, Archdiocese of Toronto—ORAT—on a trip to Lebanon to meet and interview Syrian refugees to select the most vulnerable for sponsorship in Canada. At the time, no one in Canada was discussing the Syrian refugee crisis. In fact, bureaucrats at CIC asked the SAH council to condemn ORAT, as there was no Syrian refugee program in place at the time.
In any refugee crisis you have to distinguish between protection need and resettlement need. The first goal for the international community is protection of refugees locally until a durable solution is available. A durable solution would be voluntary repatriation after the end of the war or the crisis, local integration in the host country, or resettlement in destination countries. Most refugees would prefer voluntary repatriation, meaning that their preference is to return to their homeland rather than to resettle abroad.
Resettlement to destination countries like Canada needs to be prioritized for the most vulnerable refugees, who will be hard to repatriate: the minorities of the conflict area, such as ethnic and religious minorities, political activists, women at risk, and homosexual and transgender groups.
Resettlement of refugees is the most important part of solving refugee crises. This resettlement should ensure that the refugee is integrated into society and gains financial independence as early as possible. The longer refugees remain on financial aid, the more difficult it will be to integrate them into society. That will ensure refugees do not end up in ghettos or on welfare for extended times.
The council recommends that the program name be changed from “private sponsorship program” to “civic resettlement program”. This will make the program more attractive to Canadians and will enable Canada to bring in more refugees who will be contributing to Canada's economy and growth. It will certainly remove belief that the refugee sponsorship program is a burden and an entitlement for financial aid.
As you know, Canada has two streams of refugees: the government-assisted refugees and the privately sponsored refugees. The GARs are usually selected by the UNHCR, an organization that is politicized by their donors.
The selection of the refugees is not based on needs, but on the wishes of the donor countries. For example, in the Middle East, minority groups do not stay in refugee camps, but rather live in run-down areas and work in black markets to make their living, as they would be persecuted in refugee camps. Therefore, UNHCR does not refer those refugees for resettlement in large numbers, even though they're the most entitled to it. We encourage the government to look into other options for referral agencies, such as sponsoring Canadian missions to troubled countries for the selection of refugees among the most vulnerable.
The program in Canada provides the refugees with generous financial support that encourages many refugees to feel entitled and not to work. In comparison, the United States offers refugees financial support for three months, to be extended only if the refugee proves it is needed.
CRSC believes the GAR program needs to be modified and turned into a blended system of financial support from the government that involves private communities and groups to provide moral support and ensure integration. We believe the government should not be in the compassion business.