Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 7th, 2017

[Dawn Edlund]

For the Yazidis who are part of the resettlement, both government-assisted and privately sponsored refugees, so far it's actually 650.

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

Can you focus on the government-sponsored?

[Dawn Edlund]

On the government-sponsored, there has been 590. I think you mentioned 573. We got 17 more out just recently. Amongst those Yazidis, 55% are women and girls. Also, 79% are women and children, because we've discovered in interviews that boys have been quite significantly impacted as well.

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

You also mentioned the cities. How many in each city have been resettled?

[Dawn Edlund]

I have numbers for the 807, which includes all the survivors.

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

Could you provide the committee with specifically the Yazidi component? How many Yazidis have been settled in each of the cities?

[Dawn Edlund]

We can provide that detail, but so far 642—80% of them—have gone to the four communities I mentioned, and 165 people have gone to 14 other communities across Canada.

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

Okay. If you could provide that detail to the committee, that would be wonderful.

In terms of the intake process, how are candidates identified?

[Dawn Edlund]

There are the cases that have been brought to us by communities in Canada of privately sponsored refugees.

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

I'm referring to the government-sponsored refugees.

[Dawn Edlund]

For the government-sponsored we've relied on the UNHCR. The UNHCR on the ground, in northern Iraq in particular, has worked with the local government, the regional health authority, NGOs, and Yazda, etc., to identify the individuals and refer them to us.

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

The individuals then didn't have to apply through the regular UNHCR process. They were identified through other means.

[Dawn Edlund]

I think that's true, that they were identified through other means, but I would have to—

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

Could you provide the committee with detail on exactly how people were identified and selected? Do you know how many were rejected as part of this process, who were identified and rejected?

[Dawn Edlund]

There haven't been any cases of rejections. A few individuals have actually withdrawn their applications.

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

Okay.

How many Kermanji translators are currently employed by your department or other government departments as part of the resettlement effort for the Yazidi community?

[Dawn Edlund]

They're not our employees because—

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

Contracted....

[Dawn Edlund]

We've relied on the International Organization for Migration overseas to bring in the right group of interpreters.

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

How many?

[Dawn Edlund]

I would have to find out the number.

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

Can you please give that to the committee?

[Dawn Edlund]

Similarly in Canada, it's been through our resettlement organizations.

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

I'm specifically looking for the number of Kermanji interpreters who are currently being provided to resettled Yazidis in Canada.

Of the pending or unprocessed privately sponsored refugee cases, how many are Yazidi or from ethnic minorities in northern Iraq?

[Dawn Edlund]

In total we've had 88 individuals whose cases have been brought forward as privately sponsored refugees, and 60 of those are already in Canada.