Evidence of meeting #42 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 unhcr.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Yes, we can definitely provide you with a list of partner NGOs that we work with.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
For the Syrian refugee initiative, the 25,000-plus resettlement initiative, did the Canadian government give you additional resources to help with the processing? If so, how much?
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
That was before my time here, but they did get additional resources. This is, of course, a point that is also along the lines of your interventions. If we could get more resources, we would be able to step up to the plate.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Can we get that information from you in terms of how much the Canadian government provided to the UNHCR to get that project done? Also, when did you receive that money?
As well, could you provide what kinds of resources would be required for you to help with this initiative if we were to identify and process 1,000 Yazidi women and girls, let's say, and then 2,000? Just aggregate it up so that we can have a sense of what kinds of resources are necessary to make this project successful.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
I'll take your question with me and I will see what I can answer. I cannot answer on the part of the government. I need to see how public the information was in terms of the support we got for that program for the 25,000 in upscaling our resources. I can check in-house and I will come back to you with whatever I can find.
I see also that you put this question because you would then see something replicated for this Yazidi program, if I understand you correctly.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
That's right. It's so we actually have a base to work from. I'm asking that question of you so that you can tell us what resources you received and what resources you require in order to help Canada resettle x number of Yazidis.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Yes, but ultimately, for this particular program now, it depends in the end on how many the Government of Canada wants us to refer.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I understand that, but I'm just trying to figure out how much you need for you to do that job.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj
Thank you.
We'll move on to Mr. Tabbara, please, for seven minutes.
December 1st, 2016 / 4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be splitting my time with Ms. Zahid.
My first question is about the dangers in Iraq. Now that we have a military campaign to take back Mosul, what is the situation on the ground there? Is it dangerous for Canadian officials or any officials to go there and have work done on the ground?
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Like us, you follow the news, and we have a very recent update of the situation on the ground in Iraq, differentiated as to areas where ISIS was in control, where ISIS is no longer in control—which doesn't mean it's safe—where ISIS is still in control, and where the situation is very fluid. It's obvious that the situation in northern Iraq around Mosul is still extremely volatile.
Does that mean that you can't go there? We have our offices there and we have our staff working there, but of course we have a whole security detail. Sorry for the parenthesis. I come from Yemen and spent three years in a war zone, so I know how it works. Government officials have their own security regulations, and we humanitarians are sometimes active where government officials cannot go because of their own internal security regulations.
That said, you've heard in the German group's testimony that Mr. Blume and his team regularly went to northern Iraq. I would say wherever we can be helpful.... Here again, I'm speaking of my own experience in Yemen. If there were foreign delegations coming, we would provide them with our security detail, but in the end we could not take responsibility for the security or safety of government officials. That is their own internal regulation.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Where we can, on the ground, we will create a safe space so that partners can operate.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
The reason I'm asking is that we have a time frame to finish this operation. If there's ongoing conflict, this might jeopardize the time frame. The Germans mentioned that they did it in an allotted time frame, but it was quite difficult for them as well.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Yes. They did it in a year, as you know.
What I want to say is that if it would be too dangerous for Canada to extract Yazidis out of northern Iraq as IDPs, you still have hundreds of Yazidis that you can resettle as refugees out of Turkey and Lebanon and a lot of countries. You could still bring Yazidis into Canada.
Of course, I see your concern that the most vulnerable are still locked up in the country.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
I have roughly 40 seconds for my next question.
The UNHCR has a mandate mainly focused on refugees. Do you provide humanitarian aid to those who do not fall under this category?
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Yes. Internally displaced people, who are 40 million of the 65 million, are also on our mandate; however, they are not like refugees.
For IDPs, you have a division of labour in a country like Iraq between UNHCR and other agencies. We are there to provide protection and shelter to IDPs. This protection comes with a host of services, such as psychosocial services, a particular problem for women and children. We have so-called “interagency coordination” to bring humanitarian aid to make sure that all the needs are being addressed for our IDPs, but UNHCR has a key role. Again, I can speak here out of my own experience in Yemen as the humanitarian coordinator. This is how we work.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for coming today.
We have heard at this committee.... Many Canadians involved in the efforts of bringing over Syrian refugees, particularly the private sponsors, witnessed the difficulty of getting the refugees out of the host country. We understand that one of the reasons for this difficulty is that the host countries can take their time giving exit visas. I heard, for example, that in Turkey, they only issue 20 visas a day.
How do you see this impacting the process with respect to bringing Yazidis here to Canada?
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Thank you for this question—
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
You mentioned that more Yazidis are in Turkey, compared with Lebanon.
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Yes. You have mentioned one of the key problems. Even if we have a number of dossiers of refugees ready for referral, and the country—in this case, Canada—is willing to accept them, the host country still needs to give the exit permit and their permission. If we notice there is a slowness or an unwillingness in the bureaucracy, we put pressure to get the people out, but it is sometimes easier said than done.
We should also not forget the current situation with Turkey at the moment. The failed coup in July has also had a negative impact on exits and permits and visa policies. It's getting normal now again, but we lost valuable time.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Do you think we can work with the Government of Turkey to expedite this process of giving the exit visas, or would that not be possible?
Representative in Canada, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
If this is indeed a problem—and I will check that again—then yes, we should see together how we can reassure the Turkish authorities that Yazidis should get an exit permit, if that is the obstacle, so that they can find safety and security and a new life in Canada. Yes.