Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 15th, 2017

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, colleagues. Maurice, thank you very much for your presentation, and thank you, Arsham—I really appreciate it.

Maurice, I wanted to understand something that I've heard you say in other forums, in eloquent presentations. It affects refugees, and it affects who needs to seek asylum here. Can you share with us your experience with the flows of money that go from religious organizations in Canada and the U.S. to other countries, to promote anti-gay crusades and anti-gay agendas?

[Maurice Tomlinson]

There has been a lot of tracking done of the amounts of money that go from the global north, particularly religious groups, to support anti-gay efforts back home. The figure is staggering, and it's not surprising, because they have a captive audience every weekend. Every Saturday and Sunday, they collect offerings.

The result has been a ramping up of campaigns, which we never saw before. We have seen massive protests, massive rallies, and well-funded conferences in Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad—countries that previously were known to be very tolerant. These laws were on the books, but not enforced. We're seeing multi-page media campaigns, etc., and things that we never saw happening before. We know this is not money that is generated locally, because the money's just not there.

To respond to that, we as LGBTQ activists are behind the eight ball, because we don't have access to funding in that way. Our local companies or agencies are not willing to be associated with us. I'll give one example. We approached BNS here in Canada to see if they would support work in the Caribbean to combat homophobia. They basically told us they'd have to defer to their local branches. The local branches said they might support HIV work, but they will not be associated with anything to do with LGBTQ rights.

We really are without resources. Thankfully, there's the Canada fund for local initiatives, but that only goes so far, and it's spread over the globe, whereas these people can get as much funding for one event as the Canada fund for local initiatives can provide in an entire year.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I understand.

I want to put something on the record and maybe ask if you could follow up in writing. If the Commonwealth, on June 1, approves the Commonwealth equality network, how can that actually make a material difference on the ground for the LGBTI community in the Caribbean and in other Commonwealth nations? I know we're certainly going to be working with our group to make that happen. It's a very high-threat and important meeting of the high commissioners.

I will now share my time with my colleague.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you.

I want to thank both presenters for their excellent presentations and for this great discussion. I have two quick questions.

Mr. Tomlinson, you made a number of concrete recommendations at the end of your two-page report.

My question is, who does it well in the world? Who do you think does it well in terms of supporting LGBTQI rights in the world today? Who should we be modelling? Or are we the model and we need to go further?

[Maurice Tomlinson]

Everybody has good points and bad points.

We are certainly very pleased with the constitutional framework that South Africa has, for example, but the challenge has been operationalizing that. There's a need for more domesticated sensitivity training. Canada has a very good program in terms of sensitivity training for certain groups like police, which has been exported around the world. The protection of trans individuals, on paper, looks great in Argentina and also India, but there's also a high rate of murder of trans individuals.

I would say that there is not one model for a best practice. I think Canada, as I've outlined in my presentation and summary, has done some very good things. It can do more. One of the ways it can do a lot more, I would suggest, is to support local groups on the ground who are campaigning for their liberty. The truth is, they know the response that is most appropriate in their own context.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

When LGBTQI refugees with HIV arrive in Canada, what support exists and what support is needed?

[Maurice Tomlinson]

That's a very good question.

The person who arrives as an HIV refugee is put into the system and is supported once they are granted refugee status. I would say that the current model works well. I am not aware of it being a particularly onerous process once the person has been granted status. The challenge has been getting them status. Thankfully, the process that has been introduced has helped, but you still have persons who are legacy individuals in limbo. Their ability to find work, settle, and those kinds of things, has complicated their ability to access care and well-being. I would say that an urgent need is to address those legacy individuals.

The current system does provide support for those who are granted status, but we still have about 7,000 people in limbo, which makes no sense.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Fifty seconds.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

We have Mr. Parsi on the line, and perhaps he can respond to the two questions I asked, in terms of best practices or models that you think we should be pursuing, and also whether there's any additional support that's needed for LGBTQI refugees once they arrive.

[Arsham Parsi]

As my friends, Canada is one of the good examples, not only in my opinion, but also the UNHCR believes that. Still, there are a lot of challenges, and there is a need for a big improvement in Canada. A lot of Europeans are looking to Canada and how they resettle refugees, which is really good.

I think one of the needs is that often when the refugees arrive, they need to be provided with some psychological and emotional support, and support groups that help them integrate into society.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you, gentlemen, for appearing and bringing your insights. I'd also like to thank you for your courage.

With that, we'll suspend for two minutes and resume in camera to deal with some committee business as well as drafting instructions.

[Proceedings continue in camera]