Again, thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee, for the opportunity to offer our thoughts on this study.
My name is Siham Rayale and I am the director of foreign affairs at the National Council of Canadian Muslims. I am joined today by Nadiya Ali, the diversity, equity and inclusion specialist for the council.
The NCCM has a long-standing record of participating in major public inquiries, intervening in landmark cases before the Supreme Court of Canada and providing expert advice.
To dive right in, the findings outlined by the Pollara report, which the committee has already seen, are troubling and point to evidence of racism directed at IRCC's racialized employees. These are concerns that we hear at NCCM from federal workers and from immigrants and refugees constantly.
We make the following four recommendations.
First, we recommend that IRCC conduct, on an annual basis, regular reviews like the Pollara report to end bias and systemic racism. Specifically, we also request that the audit require that nobody uses Islamophobic documentation in the determination of files.
Second, we recommend that IRCC enshrine the principle of treating all equally. That must mean that everyone currently in Ukraine, for example, deserves fair and equal treatment, and those who are non-Ukrainian nationals do not deserve to be set aside in favour of white Ukrainians.
Third, we recommend that IRCC expedite refugee claims based on prior commitments, specifically toward Afghan refugees, as well as Uighur refugees.
Last, we recommend that IRCC ensure that employee affinity or resource groups are institutionalized with adequate resources to support employees.
We make this submission to the respected members of the committee during strange times. For decades, diverse Canadians have raised the flag that our immigration system fundamentally treats racialized people differently. Now, Canada is saying the quiet part aloud in its response to the horrifying situation in Ukraine.
Canada has established the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel that eliminates normal visa requirements and does not specify a limit to the number of Ukrainian nationals who can apply. Any undocumented person in Ukraine or person without Ukrainian citizenship is left without protection. The IOM estimates that could number up to 60,900 people, mostly from South Asia and Africa. What this has resulted in is a two-tier refugee admission process that prioritizes white Europeans and that leaves racialized groups in danger. It's a good thing that Canada is safeguarding those at risk in Ukraine who are Ukrainian nationals, but war does not discriminate based on the colour of skin.
We cannot stop the systemic discrimination at IRCC when we are entrenching policies of marginalization at a time when people need us the most.
The issue before the committee of deferential outcomes grows more serious as the IRCC relies increasingly on technology to address growing backlogs of refugee admission cases. With the use of technology during the immigration intake process, IRCC risks entrenching inherent biases and flattening the refugee experience to misleading statistics.
Recent evidence already points to factors like systemic racism being a significant issue with AI algorithms. To address the concerns raised in the Pollara report, we recommend that regular audits like the Pollara report become part of a regular, annual, internal review process directed at decision-making surrounding refugee and immigration cases, including an examination of sources cited by the IRCC to inform that decision-making.
For example, in the past, the IRB has relied on documents produced by well-known Islamophobes like Daniel Pipes or Tom Quiggin. This is a practice that must immediately end.
Regular audits would also involve continued and thorough examination of IRCC's exploration of AI in its decision-making. We know this is an issue that is already being considered by another committee, and we are in support of such a study.
Afghan and Uighur refugee applications must be processed with as much expediency as those from Ukraine to heed the Pollara report recommendations concerning differential outcomes for refugees of colour and from the global south. Canada has a duty to advance its commitment to Afghan refugees. Not doing so would signal to the international community that we are a country that does not adhere to our international commitments. We must also develop a pathway for Uighur refugees fleeing genocide to come to Canada more easily.
We recommend that IRCC adopt legislation that requires a zero-tolerance policy regarding racism and hate. We further recommend that the new ombudsperson's office dedicate appropriate resources to implementing and supporting the establishment of what we are calling employee affinity or resource groups, otherwise known as ERGs.
ERGs are employee-led voluntary groups not tasked with committee work but to cultivate an informed space and foster a coming together of individuals with shared lived experiences. Given the challenges at IRCC with employees feeling marginalized—