Evidence of meeting #26 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 yazidi.
A video is available from Parliament.
11 a.m.
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
Mr. Chairman, through you to Mr. El Shafie, the former immigration minister, Chris Alexander, had approved your proposal and the process was going forward until the door was slammed shut at the election.
11 a.m.
Rev. Majed El Shafie
That's correct. I had two meetings with minister Chris Alexander. I had one meeting in Ottawa with his department. We presented the proposal. They liked the proposal. I recall the wording of minister Chris Alexander. He said that we have to do this, that we have to save these people.
That was two months before the election. After the election was over, we had to start from the beginning.
11 a.m.
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
Is it more difficult or time consuming to process Yazidis than other refugees?
11 a.m.
Rev. Majed El Shafie
I think the main problem, once again, is that there is no vehicle or system to process these internally displaced persons. They have to find the mechanism, and once the election hit the ground, the election became the focus.
11 a.m.
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
You mentioned the stigma against them. Are there Canadian immigration officials on the ground in Turkey who would be sharing that sort of stigma? Why would they not get through the system, when people displaced from other countries who are situated in Turkey are able to come through?
11 a.m.
Rev. Majed El Shafie
The stigma, as Nafiya said, is that they see them as devil worshippers, which has caused them to be discriminated against everywhere they have gone. They are different, and that's really what has caused this stigma. Besides, if you are a victim of rape, all of society will look at you differently in the Middle East.
11 a.m.
Liberal
11 a.m.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
My first question is for Mr. El Shafie.
Can we get a hard copy of that proposal that you gave to Chris Alexander?
11 a.m.
Rev. Majed El Shafie
It's in front of you. It's the same proposal, sir.
11 a.m.
Liberal
11 a.m.
Rev. Majed El Shafie
It's the same proposal. We just enhanced it at the end of June, but it's the same essence.
11 a.m.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
I'm going to give Mr. Ehsassi one minute to finish his last question.
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Thank you. I just want to follow up.
I want to emphasize once again that I very much applaud your concern about the Yazidis, but of course I think we should be concerned about the means that are used. This is a very vulnerable population. It is incumbent upon us to proceed, in our attempts to help, in a very responsible fashion.
One reason I bring it up is that I saw an interview you conducted back in 2011 in which, obviously in your keen interest to get things done, you are sometimes skirting around things, legal means of getting things done.
I have an interview here with—
11:05 a.m.
Rev. Majed El Shafie
Could you repeat the last statement?
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Yes. I have an interview here that you conducted with the Christian Telegraph in 2011—
11:05 a.m.
Rev. Majed El Shafie
Yes.
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
—in which on two occasions you admitted to actually engaging in bribery when you were trying to undertake operations abroad.
11:05 a.m.
Rev. Majed El Shafie
Absolutely, yes; that's correct.
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Do you now understand why I am very much concerned about making sure, given the sensitive nature of the mission that you have in mind, that your safety and the safety of those you—
11:05 a.m.
Rev. Majed El Shafie
When we're talking about rescuing Yazidi girls or rescuing many of the minorities from ISIS territory, we are not dealing with Canadian officials; we are not dealing within a system that respects the law. In order to save these girls and to rescue them, sometimes we have to use other means to get them out as soon as possible, for their safety and their security. If this were your daughter or your sister or your wife, you would do everything in your means to get them out safe and sound.
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Thank you.
The remainder of the time I would like to share with Mr. Tabbara.
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Operation Ezra welcomed its first family of sponsored refugees last week, and the government has made great commitments to welcoming the Syrian refugees. There are many Canadians here who are eager to help.
My one question is to Mr. Weiss. You mentioned that private sponsorship is limited, that there are too many obstacles, that it's complicated, that there are significant wait times. That's one of the main things the minister is working on, processing times, which have increased dramatically. His number one priority is to reduce wait times.
If you can, just elaborate on some of the obstacles you've experienced.
11:05 a.m.
President, Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, Operation Ezra
Perhaps I can give you a case study of the families that my synagogue is sponsoring through Operation Ezra. We filled the papers in November of last year and they were approved, in terms of their content being correct, in December.
We just received notification that the process is beginning now. They haven't had medicals or interviews yet. They are living in a refugee camp in Turkey in a situation that is very unstable. Realistically, based on our experience with the family just arrived, we probably won't see these folks until late 2016 or 2017.
Under a normal private sponsorship refugee program, that's probably not so bad, to get access to a country like Canada, but when people are living in constant danger, when they don't have medical supplies, don't have access to services, when in fact Canadian officials aren't even coming into the refugee camps, it's not acceptable.
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Cuts made by the previous government to this department are the reason we're having such an increase in wait times. The department needs to be funded properly to reduce these wait times.
You also mentioned the hybrid program. Could you elaborate more on that and give the committee members more detail on the hybrid program you propose?
