Citizenship and Immigration Committee on July 18th, 2016

[Robert Orr]

I'd go back to the general approach. Certainly on the privately sponsored applications, we will process the applications that come to us.

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

However, at this point in time, there is no direction in terms of prioritizing applications from Yazidi groups that have now been declared to be facing genocide.

[Robert Orr]

Not specifically, no.

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

To close, I know there are difficulties in tracking the applications of LGBTI individuals through the refugee stream.

In terms of your experience through the most recent refugee initiative, is there any best practice or things we should direct the government to put in place in terms of better tracking and prioritizing of the applications of LGBTI individuals?

[Robert Orr]

In terms of tracking them, there are a number of LGBTI cases that have come to our attention, and we are certainly very open to those applications. We recognize that this can be a very significant reason for vulnerability.

We do not track those sorts of things. As I said, we do not track ethnicity, religion, or whether one is a member of an LGBTI community. Primarily that's for privacy reasons.

A refugee may be a refugee for a number of different reasons and not just one specific thing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, Mr. Orr. Unfortunately, the time is up.

Ms. Kwan, for seven minutes, please.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I'd like to follow up on that question around tracking. The government has identified specific vulnerable groups, such as LGBTI, for example. If we don't have a way to track those vulnerable groups in terms of how many have been able to make application and gain resettlement into Canada, how do we know we're actually reaching the goal?

I wonder what other practices there can be, or what ways we can deal with this issue so that we have a better handle on how well we're doing in supporting these vulnerable groups.

[Robert Orr]

You're right. It is difficult to track the number, and we cannot say that we have accepted so many individuals from this group or from that group. That is not something we are able to do.

When we are considering an application, there are a number of different reasons that make a person particularly vulnerable and in need of international protection. It may well be their ethnicity and the fact that they are LGBTI, and so on. There can be a variety of different reasons which factor into this.

When we work with the UNHCR and discuss the sorts of cases we would like to have referred to us, all of these are very specific elements and the types of cases Canada would like to be considering for resettlement.

[Sarita Bhatla]

If I might just add to clarify, we do track based on nationality.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

[Sarita Bhatla]

Therefore, we'll know, for example, that if the Yazidis were coming in, they were coming in as Iraqis.

However, we would not track by ethnicity or the type of persecution, largely I think for reasons that go to the protection of the individuals in question.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

I think it does remain an outstanding issue. How do we know we are achieving the goal we set out to achieve when the government says that these are our identified vulnerable groups? Frankly, based on the information that's been received, we have no idea whether we're reaching that goal at all.

I want to turn to the Yazidis issue, since the report has come out to identify and acknowledge that this is genocide and the government has yet to declare this to be a priority. I have to be frank that I'm a little taken aback by that, and a bit upset about it actually. I thought there would be prioritization, even prior to this committee's sitting.

That said, I believe the maximum capacity of urgent cases Canada can handle is about 100. Is that correct, or has that number changed?

[Robert Orr]

I think what you're referring to are urgent protection cases.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Yes, correct.

[Robert Orr]

Those are the individual cases brought to our attention where we do immediate processing—normally within two to three days. We'd be taking individuals from a particularly vulnerable situation where they are at very real and immediate risk.

Again, the 100 number is a planning figure and not a cap. It is the number we would consider in those particular circumstances.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

In the case of the Yazidi genocide that has been acknowledged by the government, would the women and girls be considered as urgent cases?

[Robert Orr]

Those cases of urgent protection are refugees, which means they are outside their country of nationality.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Is there a way to make a special provision, then, to acknowledge the unique circumstances the Yazidi women and girls face, and the genocide that is going on, to overcome these various rules that exist, which say they are not part of the categories that could be considered? I think, at the end of the day, what we need to do is find a way to overcome these barriers, to acknowledge the urgency that very much exists. I don't think anybody around the table would say that this is not a vulnerable group that we must act for as best we can. Knowing that Canada can't do it all, surely we can do more than we've been doing so far.

[Sarita Bhatla]

If I could just take a step back in speaking about the vulnerabilities and how we assess them and in what context, I'll just give a reminder that we base our refugee resettlement program on the vulnerabilities as identified by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the referrals are taken mostly by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

So we don't, generally speaking, proactively go out and declare that Canada wants X, Y, or Z. We work in concert with other countries internationally and we take our lead, to a large extent, from the UNHCR who has the expertise to look at the global context and ask nation states to take particular groups or to refer particular individuals.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

You used to have a program, prior to 2011, a source country program that allowed for applicants from certain countries to apply for resettlement without leaving their country of origin and/or without the UNHCR referral. Can that apply in this instance with the crisis that's taking place specifically with the Yazidi women and girls?

[Robert Orr]

We could speak about source country programs separately, but I think if there were to be something of this nature, it would be more in terms of a public policy, which would be probably the easier route to go on this one.

[Sarita Bhatla]

I would say that we repealed the source country class primarily because it was quite ineffective. We had a list of countries and regulation that we would consider, where applicants could go directly to a visa officer as opposed to through a referral, but it was very difficult and cumbersome, with changing country conditions around the world, to take countries on or off that list, not to mention the diplomatic considerations about saying to a country essentially that we consider that people inside its territory should be removed if they asked for—

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

You have 30 seconds.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Here's a quick question. What suggestions would you make so we could take action right now to address this issue?

[Robert Orr]

There are a number of different issues. I think we've got to recognize that resettlement is not the only part of the solution. There are a number of things Canada can do to help the appalling situation that the Yazidis are facing right now—and a number of other minority groups in northern Iraq as well. I think that goes back to a lot of the humanitarian assistance that we are offering and that Ms. Jeffrey has outlined.