Evidence of meeting #150 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 women.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
Thank you very much.
I know that you missed part of your presentation. With your permission, I will ask the clerk to consider it as a submission, and the committee will get it.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
5:05 p.m.
Adeena Niazi Executive Director, Afghan Women's Organization
Thank you very much for this opportunity.
I'm here on behalf of Afghan Women's Organization, known as AWO. The mission of Afghan Women's Organization is for immigrants and refugees, as well as those who have experienced war and persecution, to lead self-sufficient and dignified lives in a socially inclusive society.
AWO was established 28 years ago in response to the particular needs of refugee Afghan women. We began by offering English and settlement programs, after which we expanded our services and the scope of our projects. Today we serve clients from all over the world—women, men and children. AWO, as a sponsorship agreement holder, or SAH, has sponsored more than 5,000 refugees from several countries in the past three decades. Today, thanks to our funding from IRCC and others, at our four locations in the greater Toronto area and itinerant services in southern Ontario we offer access to much-needed settlement services. As a sponsorship organization, AWO is the first point of contact for many refugees who arrive under the private sponsorship of refugees. This combination of our experience as a SAH and as a settlement service provider makes us extremely well positioned to assist refugees who are entering Canada through private sponsorship, government sponsorship and the inland refugee process.
AWO is led mainly by former refugee women. More than 97% of our clients are refugees or from refugee families. The AWO provides multiple culturally competent and linguistically appropriate gender-sensitive services, including one-on-one supportive counselling, orientation sessions, housing, parenting programs, employment and employment-related training, health and mental health services, and much more.
In our service provision we take a holistic approach. We work closely with the entire family in partnership with our community partners. We usually initiate a first meeting at the homes of marginalized women, where we provide initial information. This in-home outreach enables us to encourage the women to participate in our programs, including language. Our women-only classes provide a safe and comfortable place for women who are isolated and housebound. The classes help them learn the language, bridge the gap, and socialize and connect with the larger society. Sadly, due to lack of funding some women on our waiting list have to wait more than a year to be enrolled. Even when they are enrolled, we have to close the classes in the summer.
The needs of refugees, particularly refugee women, are distinct from those of immigrants. The majority of these refugees are highly skilled. They have skills for surviving. They are talented. They have amazing transferable skills and potential. They need support to utilize their potential. The underutilization of skills of refugee women leads to a missed economic opportunity for Canada and increased dependency on social services.
We are concerned that the voices of women's centres are not represented at the various decision-making tables, most notably at the National Settlement Council. There are many other challenges facing the settlement of women and refugees. These include the lack of adequate and affordable housing for refugees, the lack of adequate childminding support for women, the lack of support for mental health services, the lack of support to small racialized women's organizations that have lost their IRCC funding, and the lack of access to settlement services in rural areas and isolated communities.
This year the Government of Ontario made deep cuts to their financial support for refugees and immigrants, and the number of immigrants in this province continues to grow.
We have a number of recommendations to make. Increase support for year-round language and literacy programs for women and for all refugees. Provide adequate housing support. Provide adequate support for specialized services for women and refugees. Provide support to establish culturally competent mental health services for all women, particularly refugee women.
ln closing, I would urge you to keep in mind that if the newcomers are provided with the support that organizations like ours provide, they end up making significant positive contributions to Canadian society economically and socially. I would also like to say that through sponsorship agreement holders' contribution to settlement services, an exceptionally high standard of settlement practice is maintained during the intense period of settlement and resettlement of refugees. Our experience is that privately sponsored refugees become self-sufficient sooner than government-sponsored refugees, because SAHs contribute their money, their financial resources and their time. They do a great job of resettling refugees.
Thank you.
5:15 p.m.
Zdravko Cimbaljevic Human Rights Advocate, As an Individual
Honourable Chair and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
I first would like to acknowledge the Algonquin nation, whose traditional and unceded territory we are gathered upon today. Also, in becoming a convention refugee in Canada, I am broadly thankful for all the nations across Canada for allowing me to grow in this country and live on their lands.
My name is Zdravko Cimbaljevic. I was born in a small country called Montenegro, in the Balkans. About five years ago, I arrived in Canada seeking protection on the grounds of sexual orientation. As the first openly gay man in my country, I had started fighting for my community, which needed a voice. We all needed a voice at that moment. I managed to open the first LGBTIQ shelter in the region, and that gave me the broader spectrum of what kinds of settlement services that region needs, apart from the state's, which are really lacking. Unfortunately, after three years of fighting for and leading my community, I was forced to leave my country due to hundreds of death threats, attacks and a lack of state protection—none.
Before I came out as an openly gay man, I embraced LGBTIQ2 activism as my core responsibility in human rights advocacy. I was already actively working in building education, housing and other settlement services for Roma communities in the Balkans. I also have a broad knowledge of international settlement services that I gained at the international level while working with homeless youth in the U.K. and Venezuela. After my arrival in Canada in 2013, I started volunteering for organizations such as Rainbow Refugee and Foundation of Hope, two organizations that I admire for their incredible work in supporting LGBTIQ2 refugees and newcomers. I also had a great chance to work for settlement services in B.C., such as MOSAIC and the Vancouver AIDS Society.
With the professional and personal knowledge that I have gained in providing settlement services, I want to say that I'm very grateful to be here among you as an individual and a human rights advocate. It gives me the opportunity to speak from the heart, without any political intent or interest, as a human being who cares for others and a proud resident of this great country that I now call home.
In working and volunteering with LGBTIQ refugees and newcomers in Canada who are settling here, I'm happy to see the settlement providers and organizations that are here today as well, with social workers and fieldworkers improving their practices and providing equity throughout their services. They are individuals who spend many of their days talking to people, spending time with those in need in order to present them with opportunities, and giving emotional support while back-to-back trying to improve the quality of their lives in the entire process. That can be really hard sometimes, and I can tell you why.
While I am confident about people and organizations that are willing to help in running settlement programs, I am deeply concerned about the insufficient resources these settlement services receive from provincial and federal fixed funds—not one year, not three years, but fixed funds—that provide uninterrupted support to newcomers, immigrants and refugees in getting over barriers they may face, plus making sure that the clients go through minimum stress on top of the stress they already have.
Vancouver is my home, and it is already known that the cost of living and the cost of housing are unimaginable for many of us. A friend of mine who works as a social worker in the Surrey hospital shared a frustrating reality when it comes to referring a patient to case management in settlement services. When they call for a referral, settlement services are not even able to take names anymore for the wait-list, because they are maxed out and can't provide any help. Their resources can't support any more people, and then the hospital has to discharge their patients who have need of settlement services, sending them back into the community and the streets without any further guidance.
As already mentioned in previous speeches from other fellow colleagues, funding is paramount for organizations to be able to expand their services and provide enough help for newcomers and refugees who are already struggling to start their lives from zero. This is mainly for settlement services that are working in the core areas where I live and where many newcomers settle, such as Surrey, Burnaby, east Vancouver, Downtown Eastside, to name a few. Funding for translation services, which we heard from Hena, helped her and her family in the first days after arriving in Canada. I will echo that and say it is both translation services and documentation, but also outreach and support in hospitals, schools, dentist visits and stuff like that.
We are working with newcomers and refugees who don't speak English or French, and translation services are one of the first challenges we face. How can anyone know what someone needs or present what we can provide for service, if there's no clear understanding on both sides? It's very hard.
Also, faster and streamlined logistical processes that were mentioned previously are needed for addressing the needs of newcomers and refugees for legal, medical and other help. Many lawyers and doctors are sometimes unable to react fast and help because of the long process with the logistical requirements.
Last, there is a need for increased support for mental health for newcomers and refugees. The adjustments are frequently far more difficult than anyone realizes. Many of us use behaviours...and come from the countries and cultures where little positive attention is paid towards mental health. For example, in Montenegro, to admit that you are struggling with some mental health issues profiles immediately as crazy. Many people hide it within their families, as it is considered as an embarrassment.
That culture is inherited. It arrives with us here, and we need to show that this is not the case here. Mental health in B.C. definitely needs more attention than ever. We can make sure to spread the message and tell newcomers and refugees who suffer from mental health that it is okay and we are here collectively, as a society, as a country, to help them.
As someone who is passionately involved in this work, I hope that these recommendations and my statement will trigger some conversations, and that my points will be considered within this survey. I am confident that my statement will not be too far from all of the others who have provided this support to live in B.C. and across Canada.
Thank you.
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
Thank you very much.
Members, it will be a five-minute round.
We're going to begin with Ms. Zahid.
5:20 p.m.
Salma Zahid Scarborough Centre, Lib.
Thank you, Chair.
Thanks to all the witnesses. Thanks for all the work you are doing for the most vulnerable in society.
My first question is for Ms. Niazi.
I want to take a moment to especially thank you for all the work you are doing in Scarborough and the catchment area of Scarborough. You offer many services to newcomers, but there are certain programs you have which are specifically focused for women. You also run some women-only classes. I understand that newcomer women have some specific needs, and they need some specific programming and support for them to be successful.
Could you discuss why it is important for newcomer women to be able to receive certain services in a women-only environment?
5:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Afghan Women's Organization
It's based on our experience of many years, realizing that some of the women will never come out of their homes if not for women-only classes or programs. As I mentioned, certain women are housebound and won't come out. We initiate meeting with them inside their homes, encourage them, and bring them to the women-only programs. It doesn't mean they will remain in those women-only programs. They're not segregated. It's just the first step for them to come out of their isolation.
From these programs, they meet women from different communities and backgrounds. Our programs are open to women from all backgrounds—Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians, and so on. They get to know other women from other programs. Gradually, as I mentioned, they connect with the larger society. Settlement is a process. Newcomers, especially refugees, will not settle into society overnight. They need gradual steps and layers to get them into the larger Canadian society.
We find that some of the women who never came out of their homes and were encouraged by us to come out and join the language programs are now doing very well. For instance, one young refugee woman who was being abused and was staying at home was enabled by our programs, and she is now working in a mental health organization as a counsellor. We encourage them to go to school. She had talent; most of these women do. They just need culture brokers to get them out.
5:25 p.m.
Scarborough Centre, Lib.
When I talk to many women in my riding of Scarborough Centre, I usually see that they are the last ones to think about themselves. First it's about their husbands who are trying to find jobs. Then it's about getting their kids into school and settling them. For the majority of women, they're the last ones to think about themselves.
Do you think, by the time they are ready to receive some settlement services, we have enough time for them so that they can get all of those services or do they cross those time periods?
5:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Afghan Women's Organization
I think as a settlement organization, not only Afghan Women's Organization but all organizations, if you want to provide the best type of services, you have to take a holistic approach. That's what we do. When we work with women, we don't isolate them from their families. Especially in the culture that we're working in, it doesn't happen. We work with the entire family, with the husbands and the children too. We look after all of their needs.
For the newcomer family, one need is around the intergenerational gap that is created when they come to a new country. Children go to school in a completely different culture and world than those their parents are familiar with. If this gap is not bridged, it creates a big problem for youths and also parents.
These are the programs we are working on, which, because of the time limitation, I didn't go into. The programs are about bridging the gap and working with youth, such as helping them with homework. We also do parenting programs. All of these programs involve the entire family. We don't isolate a woman from her family, but the first step is to work with her.
April 1st, 2019 / 5:25 p.m.
Scarborough Centre, Lib.
Many newcomers in my riding are also seniors. Do you do any women's programs that are specific to seniors?
5:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Afghan Women's Organization
Yes, we do. Actually, we had a very good program for seniors, which the province has unfortunately stopped, so it won't continue. With seniors it's good if they're learning something that's practical. For example, we had a cooking program for seniors that involved them learning about nutrition. They learned about food that is nutritious. They learned how to shop and how to cook. When they went to the grocery store, they were escorted by volunteers. They learned about shopping carts and about nutritionally healthy food. The program brought them out of their isolation. They connected with senior women from other communities and made lasting bonds. They made friends.
Another program we have for seniors is peer leaders. The peer leaders are senior volunteers who work with a group of seniors in different communities. We have one in—
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
I know you would like to go on, but I'm afraid I need to stop you there.
5:30 p.m.
Garnett Genuis Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC
I have a brief question and then I'll hand it off.
Thank you to all of you for your testimony. My question is for Mr. Cimbaljevic.
In 2011, former immigration minister Jason Kenney was involved with the launch of this rainbow refugee program, and I know international human rights was a passion of his—in particular, standing up for the rights of LGBT people facing persecution around the world. The model for this program is an interesting one because it uses blended sponsorship. Much of our refugee sponsorship comes in the form of either government sponsorship, where it's all government bringing people here, or private sponsorship, where it's a private organization and the government isn't engaged, outside of administration.
However, this is a program where you have the government coming to the table, reducing the fiscal burden on the private sponsor, but you also have that private sponsor involved, supporting the process of integration. In a way it makes it easier for the private sponsor to step up, but it also makes it easier....
I think it was an innovative model put forward in 2011. I'm curious for your thoughts on how well the blended sponsorship model works and if this is something we should be expanding to other areas.
5:30 p.m.
Human Rights Advocate, As an Individual
Thank you for mentioning that.
It is a model that is quite unusual around the world, and we're all kind of proud of something that we have in Canada, that we can privately sponsor a refugee. Not many countries, or none, have that model where citizens can sponsor privately.
When it comes to blended sponsorship, yes, that's true; we have that support from the government. However, a private sponsorship group, if it is sponsoring one person, has to raise at least $20,000. They have to raise 70% of the funds and confirm to government that they have 70% of the funds in order for government to even start the process. There are a lot of timelines there. It's not as if you have the group and then suddenly the refugee comes here. It's a process where there's lots of work while someone still waits in a camp or in some kind of shadow to be rescued.
When it comes to that support, there is support, but as you know, it's very limited support. When it comes to housing, the government provides a certain amount for the furniture and for maybe three months of the 12 months that refugees are provided in Canada, to be supported by this group and the government for the first year of their stay. However, nothing happens after a year. It's not as if someone can really be fully settled in a year.
5:30 p.m.
Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC
I'm going to jump in to hand it over to my colleague, but I guess what you're saying is that it's great that the government came to the table, but from your perspective, it could ideally give more. I will say that it's more than exists in other contexts for private sponsorship.
I'll hand it over to my colleague now.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Thank you, and thanks to my colleague as well.
I have a question for you. You've been here for five years, I believe you indicated. Since you've come to Canada have you been able to continue to do any work in development back in Montenegro? What have you been able to accomplish in the Balkans since you left?
5:30 p.m.
Human Rights Advocate, As an Individual
Yes, I'm still connected to my country because my whole family is there. I'm the only one who left the country. I'm connected from that point of view but also from the activism point. I think my leaving the country also spiked a little bit of other types of activism, that more people came out enraged that the only person who was out had to leave, and internationally, I think that triggered this talk, let's say.
I am involved more now internationally. Because I'm here, I cannot be there locally to support my community and colleagues who I kind of left behind, but I'm very much involved and give support whenever I can, especially in the region, because the whole region is similar.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
That's great. Thank you.
Ms. Reimer, you indicated there was a tool to assess the level of danger, and you mentioned a particular name, Campbell.
Can I just get the name of that group from you again?
5:35 p.m.
Executive Director, Alberta Council of Women's Shelters
It's Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell from Johns Hopkins University.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Okay, and two-thirds of the people coming in were at risk of being killed.