Good morning.
The Canadian Council for Refugees, or CCR, is the national voice of over 200 member organizations who work with and for refugee and immigrant communities across Canada.
Thank you for the opportunity to talk about Canada's asylum system. It's an issue that needs a renewed national conversation, one that moves us from a place of blaming refugees and finger-pointing across all levels of government to a conversation about solutions.
People in Canada are increasingly being told that refugee claimants are causing a crisis, a situation Canada is unable to handle. This is simply not the case. Our country has the infrastructure, the know-how and the resources.
The good news is that across Canada, we have the skills, the experience and the solid foundation of infrastructure needed to greatly improve outcomes for refugee claimants and Canada. Remember, Canada is a global leader in resettling UN-designated refugees. We have an extensive national welcome system that, while not perfect, sets such refugees up for success by providing information, services and logistical support so they can find housing, work and community.
Sadly, no similar system exists for refugee claimants seeking protection at or within our borders. The right to claim asylum is a fundamental international right, and the vast majority of those making a claim in Canada are ultimately determined to be refugees fleeing persecution. The lack of a national plan to ensure a coordinated response from all three levels of government to such claimants fails those who have a right to asylum, puts local governments and community groups in expensive, short-term reaction mode and leaves people in Canada shocked and upset that so many claimants end up homeless in a country that prides itself on its openness to refugees.
We need not look to Europe for suggestions. We need only to scale up successful models in Canada and work in a more systematic, coordinated way across the country, building on what we already know and drawing on the significant experience of Canadian civil society groups that have been stepping up to fill the void for decades. CCR's proposal for a national system for asylum with dignity was launched with members three years ago, and it is still relevant today.
A national coordinated plan should ensure action in five key pillars.
First, we need to establish reception centres in cities with large numbers of claimants to provide orientation and referral services and to facilitate the movement of claimants within a city or to regions where capacity exists. We have a good precedent set in Peel, but these reception centres should be established in other centres and then connected in a national framework of information sharing with local governments and civil society to enable informed choice by claimants.
Second, we need sustained federal funding for transitional housing, scaling up the successful experiences of NGOs and diaspora community groups. This housing should not be in expensive hotels where claimants are isolated. There should be options for housing with wraparound services where refugees are integrated as part of the community and retain mobility rights.
As a step in the right direction, the federal government has renewed funding for the interim housing assistance program. There is an incredibly positive story we could all be telling Canadians together now about building solutions for refugees and the country. The previous round of IHAP funding was entirely oversubscribed. That means there are provinces, communities and groups across the country that are ready and willing to build dedicated housing with support services for refugee claimants, so IHAP funding needs to be scaled up. It needs to be locked in long-term so that it is predictable, and crucially, it needs to be open to civil society organizations directly. There are dozens of groups across the country that can move quickly and are ready to create housing solutions that will ease the pressure on homeless shelters and provide refugees with the support they need.
Third, we need to end the restrictions that prevent refugee claimants from accessing the settlement support services that are offered to other newcomers and that we know will improve short- and long-term outcomes.
Fourth, as we've just heard, we must ensure that adequate legal aid coverage is available for refugee claimants in all parts of the country, supported by multi-year funding.
Fifth, we need to continue to do work to ensure a fair, streamlined and effective claims process. Recent reforms under Bill C-12 have made the system a lot less fair and have created new inefficiencies and backlogs. I'm happy to answer questions about some immediate steps that can be taken to improve outcomes, including in the regulations.
In conclusion, this committee should recommend the development and funding of a national coordinated plan for asylum with dignity that will meet the public's expectations for a fair refugee claim system that upholds human rights and the strong tradition of refugee welcome that Canadians are rightly proud of. It is entirely doable and is long past time, and CCR members are ready to help.
Thank you.