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.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
I understand that obviously your interest in assisting Yazidis is longstanding. Of course, it probably stems back to August 2014 when atrocities first occurred, as we heard in the testimony today and read in various reports.
I take it that you have actually submitted proposals. Could you tell me how many proposals you've submitted to assist these people?
Rev. Majed El Shafie
This is the only proposal that we submitted. We enhanced it. You have the original proposal, and after the meeting with the chief of staff we enhanced it, improved it.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Okay. In 2014, when the terrible atrocities were happening, did you not submit a proposal?
Rev. Majed El Shafie
We were working on the ground. We did not yet submit a proposal, because our legal team was looking for a partner to make a proper proposal. It takes time.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Okay.
I'm looking at one of your proposals, which I believe is dated June 30—
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
—and you talk about the process of screening individuals on the ground in northern Iraq. As you can imagine, many of us are concerned that a private group without a lengthy record of support, should they go to war-torn regions.... As much as they're there to do good work and to assist, when you're helping vulnerable groups it's very important to make sure that they are protected after they have been screened.
I look at the proposal that you have provided us, and it says that your group is proposing to provide “local protection and accommodation” to people you screen. What would that entail? It's just a passing reference in the letter, but given how vulnerable the population you're dealing with is, what exactly did you have in mind?
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
This is after screening. First of all, it doesn't specify exactly what type of screening you have in mind, but also it goes on to say that you would provide “local protection and accommodation” once you're there.
Rev. Majed El Shafie
Just to make it clear, this is a proposal to the Canadian government.
Rev. Majed El Shafie
They will have their own ways of accommodation. They will have their own ways of screening the refugees. We are not here to do their job; we are here just to propose—
Rev. Majed El Shafie
—what the process is, in order for them to follow this process or, having a map, how to proceed in dangerous areas, as you indicated.
With regard to security, it was very clear in the proposal that many areas in Kurdistan, such as Erbil, are very secure areas. We have more than 400 Canadian soldiers on the ground. Many international delegations go back and forth. There is always a system, the same as we had in Lebanon, whereby we have a refugee centre where we can interview the people.
The bottom line here is that this is a pilot project. There will be gaps in it, I can assure you. But we are not here to sit down with regard to the small details or the logistics. Before we start all of this, we need the green light from the Canadian government. Without the green light, this is human trafficking. Do you understand what I mean? If we did this without the approval of the Canadian government, this would be human trafficking. We need the Canadian government to approve in order to start the logistics and the steps, and then we can look at the details.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Sure, but you would also require the approval of the Iraqi government and the Kurdish regional government, isn't that correct?
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Okay.
Obviously, I think the objectives that you have set out are incredibly laudable, but you refer to such things as “small details”. These are small details that are very significant, when one is dealing with individuals on the ground in a war-torn region. You would admit that these are significant things to consider, by any—
Rev. Majed El Shafie
Absolutely. It's important, absolutely. If you read the proposal, we covered as much as we can—