Thank you so much.
I really appreciate being here today from the traditional land of Treaty No. 7 in Calgary, Alberta, whose Blackfoot name is Mohkinstsis.
I am the president and chief executive officer at the Centre for Newcomers. I have five points that I want to bring up in relation to racism, discrimination and systemic barriers in terms of IRCC. Although some really wonderful things have happened over the last few years, including our indigenous education for newcomers as a priority, and more priority on LGBT+ and racialized communities and other things, I thought I would use this time to speak to some of the things that we see as barriers and where we would like to see some changes.
The first is what is true and also perceived in the general public as differential actions for displaced peoples that are dependent on where they come from. We see this much more broadly, especially right now, where we are still reeling, as settlement agencies, from the acceptance of and assistance to Afghan refugees. That has been, of course, as it is for all displaced people in war, very difficult in terms of that, in terms of the community—but we're seeing much easier ways of coming to Canada for Ukraine and for Ukrainian citizens. That is problematic in what we say to our clients and what we say to the community in terms of why there was a difference between racialized communities—whether they were Syrian, whether they were Iraqi, whether they were coming from Colombia in South America or from anywhere else, or Punjabi if they were coming potentially as political refugees from India—and all these different places that are racialized.
As much as we do support the Ukrainian community, and support every community, there is a huge difference. The only one we can see visibly is race. That is really problematic in terms of the work we do.
The other piece that's related to that is differential treatment based on immigration status. We have a very legal mechanism of claiming asylum once people come to Canada, yet they are not allowed any of the services or any of the settlement support while they are going through their process of becoming permanent residents. This also has detrimental effects on their longevity. Many studies show that children and grandchildren will continue to be in that trauma state because their parents did not receive the kinds of services...until a few years in, when they received their refugee status. That is also problematic.
We see this also in terms of what we're going to do with those Ukrainians. Currently, they are being marked as temporary residents. What are we going to do if they seek asylum and they choose to stay, or if they cannot go back? What kinds of services will we be able to offer? Currently, IRCC does not allow us as settlement agencies to offer services to temporary residents or refugee claimants. This is problematic in terms of how these communities are going to be able to get assistance.
One of the things we learned during the COVID response was that we were the group that was responsible for a 99% vaccination rate, the first in Canada, and most certainly in Alberta, from the lowest to the highest in northeast Calgary, which is a highly racialized newcomer community space. We were able to prove that for people in times of crisis, whatever that crisis is, even if they speak English or French fluently, you provide them with dignity when you provide them with the ability to speak in their first language. That is another thing that we think is extremely important in terms of all the services that are offered. They should not only be in English and French. We should make a concerted effort, especially in times of crisis, to be able to give first language support.
One thing we saw through COVID was that IRCC officers were not designated as essential workers. The offices were closed. If they had been essential workers, we wouldn't have seen such a disparity between the services offered for newcomers and immigrants as compared with other communities.
Finally, in maybe the last decade, funding has typically excluded ethnocultural community groups. In terms of being natural supports to our community, we think we really need to look at more funding options for ethnocultural community groups.
Thank you.