Thank you very much.
Hello, my name is Janet Altshool. I'm a founding member of LEGIT, Canadian immigration for same-sex partners.
LEGIT was the first organization in Canada to focus on same-sex immigration. Over the past 25 years we've assisted thousands of people and helped to establish the immigration process for Canadians sponsoring their same-sex partners. Today, as you know, same-sex partners are included in the family class. LEGIT is proud of this work and of the leadership of the Canadian government in being one of the first countries in the world to recognize our relationships.
I am an immigrant to Canada. I applied on humanitarian and compassionate grounds based on my same-sex relationship with a Canadian who could not sponsor me because the law did not allow it at the time. I'm now a Canadian citizen, and my partner and I celebrated our 30th anniversary last summer.
When the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was enacted in 2002, same-sex partners were finally recognized as part of the family class. With that recognition, we thought that the work of LEGIT was done, because applications from same-sex partners were a regular part of the Canadian immigration system. What we found instead was that LGBTQ people still needed a community-based organization to assure them that the government process was legitimate and that they were included within that process.
Even after 15 years there is still a need for an organization such as LEGIT to help people with their applications and to challenge the bureaucracy when it makes seemingly innocuous changes that have an enormous impact on LGBTQ people—for example, the new requirement that those not living together provide joint utility bills, or the not-updated operations manual that says only opposite-sex marriages will be recognized for trans people.
That is why LEGIT supports an ongoing rainbow refugee assistance program. For refugees, there is a tremendous need for a regular program supported by those who understand the unique challenges of the LGBTQ people in arriving and settling in Canada. As with same-sex immigration, Canada needs to play an ongoing leadership role in the protection of LGBTQ refugees facing persecution. Over the past several years, more people are reaching out to LEGIT to help them escape violent situations. Through our drop-ins, email, and social media channels, LEGIT receives pleas for help daily from people who are in the midst of, or have fled, homophobic or transphobic violence.
Let me share my inbox with you.
Abdul is a college graduate. He contacted me in January, desperately trying to find someone who could help him. As a gay man in Pakistan, he was scared, closeted, and in two months going to be forced into an arranged marriage. He had no money for the exit visa to leave Pakistan. He did not want to be forced to marry but feared his family would kill him if he explained he was gay.
Daisy, a woman from an African country with laws criminalizing homosexuality, is an athlete and a lesbian desperately wanting to live somewhere without the risk of being murdered. Her partner lives 1,000 miles away because they fear being found out if they lived closer.
Wilson contacted me recently, saying, “I am in Uganda in Africa and am facing difficult times in here due to my status as a gay and I would like to flee my country to safeguard my life.” When I explained that I knew very little about refugee procedures and that he should contact the rainbow refugee program instead, he replied, “Oh, my God, I'm running for my life hopelessly.”
Lastly, Lucinda is transgendered and from Lebanon. She boarded a rusty ship with a number of Syrians fleeing for their lives. The ship sank and she lost all her documents and ended up in Greece. She rapidly found that the Greeks don't care for transgendered women any more than they do in Lebanon. She's periodically beaten and evicted from one apartment after another, once the landlord realizes she is transgendered.
I searched for and gave her the address for the UNHCR in Athens. She went to register and was told that she is not allowed to register with them. This is a very small sample of the messages I find waiting for me every day. People are fearing for their lives and desperate to survive, and they often are not finding help through the UNHCR.
Without Rainbow Refugees, we would not be able to respond with appropriate information and referral. What will happen if the RRAP ends in March? I'm not confident that typical sponsorship agreement holders and settlement organizations understand that LGBTQ refugees are fleeing persecution differently from other refugees. They are often without the support of family or cohorts, and often that is who they are fleeing from.
We need the experience of Rainbow Refugees to help with proactive planning that aids resettlement of LGBTQ refugees and assists with crisis situations, such as the targeting of gays in Chechnya and Kenya.
I hope you grasp the importance of their work, the importance of this program that is literally saving the lives of the last group of people that it is acceptable to vilify worldwide.
Thank you to the committee members for listening.