Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Dec. 1st, 2016

[Johannes van der Klaauw]

I cannot speak for those who have come forward and have done their own identification. I can speak for how we and our partners identify those refugees for resettlement. As you mentioned yourself, we have identified for the moment a few hundred Yazidi, in Turkey and also in other countries, and not yet the thousands as others have said. I cannot speak for them, but we have a whole system of how to identify high needs for resettlement.

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

What are you doing to be able to speak for them?

[Johannes van der Klaauw]

Excuse me?

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

You said you can't speak for the Yazidis, yet they want to resettle to Canada as government-sponsored refugees, so what is the UN doing to speak for them?

[Johannes van der Klaauw]

We, of course, in our field operations liaise with them. We liaise with their organizations and we try to identify as many as possible for resettlement.

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

Okay, so would you be willing to work with NGOs that have these lists of names if the government provided you with that direction in order to increase the number beyond the 400 that you've identified?

[Johannes van der Klaauw]

Yes, in general, in order to identify the most vulnerable for resettlement, we are always open to whoever has the information, and particularly those on the ground who work with those persons concerned.

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

Just to clarify, if the government directed NGOs to work with the UN to provide additional names beyond what you've already identified, you would be open to ensuring that those names were added to the 400 that you've already identified. Is that correct?

[Johannes van der Klaauw]

Yes. In general terms, if it comes to resettlement—and I used to be head of resettlement—if it comes to identification of cases, we are open to information from whichever group of partners. Refugees themselves also self-refer to our offices. The issue is more that if we get this information, then we need to make our own assessment: are they indeed high-need and the most vulnerable?

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

It's quite possible for this government, then, that you could process a number for resettlement that would be well over 400 and that would fall into the criteria listed in the motion that passed in our Parliament.

[Johannes van der Klaauw]

That is if we have sufficient resources ourselves. That's another element: do we have enough staff?

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

How is the UN able to process 25,000 refugees in a four-month period, but now it can't process over 400, even if those names were referred to them by NGOs?

[Johannes van der Klaauw]

I'm not saying that we can't now process a couple of hundred. If this is now a program, we will do whatever we can to make this happen for Canada.

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

Do you have the capacity to process over 1,000 within this time period if you are presented with names?

[Johannes van der Klaauw]

I cannot bind my own colleagues in Turkey or in Lebanon, but I know that if there are these offers and there's willingness, we will do everything to ramp up our resources.

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

How were you able to bind your colleagues to 25,000 if you can't do it for 1,000?

[Michael Casasola, Resettlement Officer, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]

I would add one important qualification, not knowing the individuals to whom you're referring. Again, there were the imperatives, such as are they registered as refugees, are they outside their country of origin? The barriers were fixed.

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

We heard from many Yazidis that they felt they were discriminated against by your processing reps in these camps. They showed time periods of over five years, when other refugees had been given appointment times in a far shorter period than that. What are you doing to rectify this discrimination?

[Johannes van der Klaauw]

As I said, we need that information. It needs to be shared with us, and we need to take action if this is proven to be true, because this would be discriminatory.

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

If these groups were to come to you with these instances, you would be open to a formal review of your process, and then to making changes to ensure that these people are not experiencing continued instances of discrimination.

[Johannes van der Klaauw]

If these delays are attributed to discriminatory treatment on the part of our staff, the answer is yes.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Ms. Kwan, you have seven minutes, please.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to both the witnesses for coming today.

I have a couple of questions. First, you've identified around 400. These are government-assisted refugees, correct?

[Johannes van der Klaauw]

No, I have not identified numbers for this particular program. I've mentioned that until today—