Madam Speaker, earlier this session I had the opportunity to ask the government about backlogs in privately sponsored refugee programs, but this has become an urgent issue, given the situation in Chechnya.
Since last month we have heard very serious reports out of Chechnya that gay men are being rounded up and taken to essentially what are acting as concentration camps.
These men are being tortured. We have heard reports of family members throwing gay men off roofs to kill them. Essentially what is happening in Chechnya right now against gay men is a pogrom. It is probably one of the most serious immediate threats to gay people in that part of the world.
We cannot deny that there are many LGBTQ members around the world who face persecution from governments that have policies to either torture or prosecute or persecute or kill or do worse, simply because of who they are and who they love, but certainly what is happening in Chechnya right now is of grave concern. This whole situation in Chechnya has really put into question the government's ability to prioritize the most vulnerable when they come to Canada as well as to ensure that the privately sponsored refugee program works in situations like this, where there is an immediate need to see people come to safety in Canada.
There are a few things I would like to see the government do in this regard. Rainbow Refugee is a not-for-profit group that has done amazing work in helping to facilitate, through the private sponsorship stream, LGBTQ people who are persecuted around the world to come to Canada through our refugee program. The government has refused to commit to allowing this program to become an ongoing program, regularly funded through the government, and I would ask the government today if it would commit to doing that.
I would also ask if it would ensure through this program that there would be collaboration with private sponsorship agreement holders that are not impacted through the SAH caps. I would also ask that the government come up with a way to ensure faster processing times in situations such as the one I just described. We know that outside of the Middle East right now, processing times for the PSR program are between four and seven years.
I would also like to call upon the government today to formally denounce in every way possible the situation in Chechnya. We have not heard the government or the Prime Minister do this yet. I would also like to call upon the government to come up with ways beyond the talking points of relying on the UNHCR to select our refugees to come to Canada and to put forward a concerted effort to prioritize the most vulnerable.
The fact that the House took nearly 18 months to recognize the Yazidi genocide and then have any Yazidi refugees come to Canada shows a problem in the UNHCR selection process, because we know that the most persecuted cannot make it to these camps for selection.
There is a litany of asks that I think are very common sense, very non-partisan, and very Canadian. I am hoping that the government today would be able to finally answer some of these questions.