Evidence of meeting #83 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was yazidis.
A video is available from Parliament.
10:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
We'll have to get that offline.
I need to move to Ms. Rempel. We're just in a very—
10:45 a.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Perhaps I'll just pick up on that.
Mr. Elias, I would ask you to table with the committee the list you provided to the UNHCR of people whose applications were rejected. If you want to redact the names, that's fine. I think that would be helpful.
10:45 a.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
In a situation like this, where a parliamentary committee undertakes a study—we've had two meetings in the follow-up—typically we would ask the committee to provide a report and then ask the government to respond to the report. Is that something you would find useful in this situation?
I'll just run through the deck.
Mr. Barber.
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Founder and President, Canada Section, Yezidi Human Rights Organization-International
Yes.
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Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Nadia.
Hi, Nadia. I'm not sure if she's connected.
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Liberal
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President, Nadia Murad Initiative, Yazda
Yes. The answer is yes. I can hear you.
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Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Okay, good.
Moving on from there, we had many recommendations, some of which my colleague Ms. Kwan has suggested. I suggested some in the first panel, so I won't repeat those.
I'm just going through some of the notes on what you've raised.
Mr. Elias, would you suggest that the committee recommend that the government undertake an audit of outstanding applications that were provided to the UNHCR but that were not recommended for resettlement to Canada?
10:45 a.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Excellent.
Mr. Barber and some of the witnesses on the teleconference, you mentioned many of the issues related to rebuilding and that also affect resettlement. I'll note that the motion the Canadian Parliament accepted also accepted recommendations 210, 212, and 213 in the 2016 report entitled “They came to destroy”.
Would you recommend that the government provide a response to Parliament on its efforts to meet and take actions on those recommendations?
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Founder and President, Canada Section, Yezidi Human Rights Organization-International
Yes.
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Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Excellent.
My colleague Mr. Tabbara noted, and I agree with him, that many people around the world are in need of resettlement. One of the biggest public policy challenges the world faces right now is global forced migration and displacement. Our Prime Minister, though, said that resettling 25,000 Syrian refugees was only a matter of political will. There was a prioritization placed on that cohort.
Do you feel, since your people have experienced genocide, the government should put a similar priority on continuing to resettle victims of genocide in both our government-sponsored and privately sponsored refugee streams?
10:45 a.m.
Founder and President, Canada Section, Yezidi Human Rights Organization-International
Yes.