Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 7th, 2017

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Yes, if you could, please. I think the issue of translation is important, because we've also heard this from the other study we did with regard to the Syrian refugee resettlement process. There was a woman who told the committee that she was diagnosed with cancer and in fact did not find out about her diagnosis for a very long time because there was no translation provided to her. A stranger standing in the hospital spoke the language, and she recognized that and asked the individual to provide the translation. That's the reality on the ground.

Particularly with this group of refugees, I think the needs are perhaps even more particular in terms of the language requirements. I think it's really important that we try to do that. Even if you're funding it, there might not be the resources on the ground. If there aren't the resources on the ground, what action is being taken to address that issue? I think that's critical.

For the NGOs that are doing this work, are there additional resources provided to them to take on helping in the resettlement of the Yazidi families?

[Jean-Marc Gionet, Acting Senior Director, Resettlement Operations, International Network, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

As Ms. Edlund indicated earlier, funding was provided for this initiative, and part of that funding goes to the service-providing organizations that are receiving additional government-assisted refugees above what was originally planned at the start of the year.

[Dawn Edlund]

We've also provided funding so each community can hire a wellness coordinator and also more supports for individual hands-on supports for each of the families.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Did that pocket of money for those additional resources come out of the overall resettlement dollars that have been allocated for the resettlement of all refugees and immigrants, or is that an additional measure that was put in by government?

[Dawn Edlund]

It came out of the $21.7 million that we already had set aside for this specific initiative. It hasn't been touched on from the other pocket of money we have for vote 10.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

This is not additional dollars for the department.

[Dawn Edlund]

It is additional dollars.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

The other big issue for resettlement is housing. How large are these families, generally speaking? How long does it take for an individual who is brought here to resettle, in getting permanent housing?

[Dawn Edlund]

We were provided advice by the Germans that we should expect very large families, 10 to 12 people, but our practical experience is that the individual nuclear families are quite small, two to three people. We're finding that many of the families want their extended family members who are also coming to Canada to all live in the same household, so we've been looking for housing that would help them do that. It's not just mom, dad, and two kids, but it's also aunts, grandmas, de facto family members, etc., who are all housed together.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Are the extended family part of the resettlement process among these numbers, or is that another process they would embark on once they are here?

[Dawn Edlund]

We asked the UNHCR, when they were referring cases to us, to include the extended family to the extent they could so that we could have the entire group come to Canada together as opposed to coming in separate waves. That's being done. That's part of the numbers, yes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

That is part of the 1,200 overall. Thank you.

Beyond this 1,200, given that immigration levels numbers are at 7,500 for GARS this year, have you received any direction from the government that beyond this 1,200 for the coming year you will continue to prioritize this group, or has there been no direction?

[Dawn Edlund]

For the 1,200, in my opening remarks I said that we received 1,383 individuals identified to us, and we're going to continue processing all of them. They will be arriving into 2018, over and above the 1,200.

We took a targeted approach, as I said earlier as well, in what the host governments were willing for us to do as a resettlement program, which was not a large resettlement effort, so that's how we ended up with the number 1,200. At the moment we're focusing on finalizing the processing overseas, getting folks to Canada, getting them adequately supported and resettled. We're looking at whether there are any individuals who are family members who were perhaps in captivity and have been released and the mechanisms for getting them to Canada quickly to reunite. That's where our efforts are at the moment, but we have not received new direction for a further number of individuals to be sought from northern Iraq.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Assuming then for the 7,500, the plan numbers, that would be for all the other different countries and then we'd be back to, for lack of a better term, business as usual prior to this initiative. Am I correct in making that assumption?

[Dawn Edlund]

In the 2018 levels plan, there are 7,500 for government assisted but there is also 1,500 for the blended cases, so we're operating with a total for government-supported of 9,000. Our focus is on Africa and the Middle East, as it has been for a while.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

On special support for the children, especially psychiatric and mental health support, can you also provide us with information with respect to that to break it down for us?

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Zahid, I understand you and Mr. Tabbara are questioning together.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the officials for coming to the committee.

My first question is for you, Ms. Edlund. Before I start, I want to thank you for your leadership in the Syrian operation.

Are there any lessons that you learned from the Syrian operation that were successfully applied to this specific program?

[Dawn Edlund]

Yes. What we learned from the Syrian operation and applied here is, first, the pacing of arrivals so we can make sure that the communities where these people are being resettled are able to welcome them fully. Second, we instituted the changes I talked about earlier around providing further information about specific settlement needs to the service provider organizations in the communities where people would resettle so that they would know what is going to happen ahead of time.

We also know from the Syrian project that people need a certain period of time to settle their affairs and say goodbye to folks. In the case of Yazidis, they have a special religious service that they need to do. They have to take a trip to Lalish to receive a blessing for their departure. We've made sure that we've covered that piece, as well.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

How important was the role of partners such as the UNHCR, Yazda, and Operation Ezra to the success of this program?

[Dawn Edlund]

It's been key on a number of different levels for Yazda and Operation Ezra, as well as NGOs on the ground in northern Iraq, to provide us with their intelligence, their collaboration, and their information about how to make this a success. That has been really key to helping us set up the operation in the first place and make adjustments as we go.

The UNHCR, as always, is a key partner for us. We recognize that it stepped out of its normal role in relation to this operation to do referrals of internally displaced persons as opposed to resettling refugees itself. That's not normally its legal mandate, but it recognized that given the vulnerability of individuals in this particular set of circumstances, it would go the extra mile to refer internally displaced people.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

I know we normally don't ask refugees to identify themselves by religion, and I understand that many Yazidis are reluctant to identify themselves as Yazidis. Could you discuss how you are able to report the numbers that you have provided and the challenges you faced around that?

[Dawn Edlund]

In terms of the individuals who we've been counting as Yazidi, they're people who have self-identified and who have come through the UNHCR referral process as Yazidi. I'm not aware, of the folks who have been referred to us, of any other group of people who didn't want to identify themselves. I'm not aware of that being a particular challenge. We have the numbers because people self-identified.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

I'll pass the rest of my time to Mr. Tabbara.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you.

My question is about the situation that started to arise with the conflict in northern Iraq. A big portion of why the atrocities first started was when the Yazidis were forced to leave their homes and were forced on Mount Sinjar, where roughly 40,000 Yazidis were trapped. That was August 2014.

Can you tell the committee how many Yazidis were settled within Canada between that incident in August 2014 and August 2015?