Mr. Speaker, we have been around this block and this debate a couple of times in this House. Time and time again, the government states the same obvious thing and keeps saying how great it is doing. If we were to read the speeches from back then and read the speeches now, they say the same thing.
However, what the government is failing to understand is the engagement of the Syrian diaspora in Canada. The engagement of any diaspora at the time of need, at the time of destruction, be it man-made or be it a natural disaster, is very important. This lesson was learned very quickly when we had the earthquake in Bhuj, back in 2001, and the tsunami and the disaster in Muzaffarabad.
The Liberal government at the time set a protocol and the protocol was very simple: expedite family-class applications that are in the queue, husbands and wives, expedite parental applications, make an opportunity for people who want to sponsor their parents or grandparents or spouses to move them to the front of the line, match dollar for dollar what was raised by the community and work with the community so it can issue tax receipts. Those lessons were well appreciated by the community. Community members were engaged.
The current government, even though sometimes pushed, continued in that same vein. Do members remember the situation in Iraq? This particular government allowed for expedition of grandparents and parents out of Iraq, as well as spouses. The only thing people had to write in their application that went to the processing centre was “Iraq” and it was expedited.
The government, after being pushed in committee by myself and the member of Parliament from Kitchener at the time, moved to bring refugees from Iraq into Iraq. And that continued.
Then we come to Syria. The Syrian community has visited government members of Parliament, has met with the minister of external affairs and bluntly put to them, “There are two issues that we are looking for. One, help with immigration; two, help with the fundraising that we are doing by matching dollar for dollar.” The community has raised millions of dollars. It worked with NGOs, government-approved NGOs. The community approached the government and said, “Will you please match dollar for dollar?” Not only did the government not even listen, it ignored the community.
Community members are trying very hard to meet with the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism so they can nail down if there is a program coming to them, as we have done for other communities.
There is no such program coming to them. And there is no such hope that we will even go with matching dollar for dollar.
I heard a member saying tonight that we are expediting people from Syria. I reached out to the immigration offices at the posts in Lebanon, as well as in Amman, Jordan. When I said, “A lot of my constituents are asking if we are running any special programs for Syrian refugees”, the answer was, “At this time, there are no special programs for Syrian refugees.”
When I asked whether there was any expediting of parents and grandparents or whether we were taking any parental sponsorships, the answer was that no new applications to sponsor parents or grandparents have been accepted for up to 24 months, that parents and grandparents of Canadians citizens or permanent residents have the option of visiting Canada on a parental and grandparent super visa.
In order to issue a visitor visa to a parent or a grandparent, it must mean that they have something to go back to in order to come to Canada and say, “I am a visitor. That means that I am going to go back to my place that I am coming from.”
Well, definitely no parent or grandparent is going to go back to what is happening in Syria, so the chances of getting a super visa are slim to none.
Then I asked the question, “Are we taking any Syrian refugees?” and the answer was, “The Government of Canada is deeply concerned about the crisis in Syria and will continue to do whatever we can do best to help the Syrian people.”
There is no word in here about taking in Syrian refugees.
Another question I posed to the post was, “Are we expediting independent class applications from Syria?” The answer was, “At this time, there are no special programs for Syrians to expedite their federal skilled worker applications.”
Clearly the government is failing the Syrian diaspora by not responding to their request to issue special visitor visas for their loved ones to come from Syria in order to get the program going again for parents and grandparents. It is a total travesty.
Then we come to the point where the community has asked to be allowed to match dollar for dollar. I had a press conference last week. The Syrian representative said he went next door and received $500 from his neighbour.
It is not only the Canadian diaspora, but the Canadian public needs to look at what is happening in Syria every day. We see it every night on our televisions. We read about it every day in the press or on the Internet. Canadians want to get engaged. They want to contribute. However, the Conservative government is not going to match dollar for dollar.
The parliamentary secretary to the minister responsible for CIDA said that the community only raised $30,000. I challenge the parliamentary secretary to sit down and speak with the Syrian Canadian Council, with Syrian organizations, and ask them how much money they have raised. She will hear that it is millions of dollars. Yet the government will not work with them. Not only will the government not match them dollar for dollar, but it will not work with these organizations in order to ensure they get a one-time receipt application so they can give tax receipts. This is another travesty.
The Conservative government does not care. Why does it not care? It cared for other communities. It worked with other communities. Why will it not work with the Syrian community? I wonder if there is an underlying situation that is causing it not to help the Syrians. The government does not care about Syrians. They do not matter. It might be because the Syrians do not vote for the Conservatives. It is not in their reform-alliance base to want to engage the Syrians.
Why is the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration playing peekaboo? Why does he say he is going to meet with Syrians but then he does not? Members of Parliament have said that the minister met here and there with Syrians. I challenged the member for Richmond Hill to tell us where the minister met with Syrians. We have not yet heard from one Conservative member of Parliament who can tell us that the minister met with this group on this date and at this place. It would indeed be a pleasure to hear that from them. If the minister is watching tonight, maybe tomorrow he will come into this Chamber and he will ask for unanimous consent to table something indicating where he met with individuals. I have yet to hear from any Syrians in Canada, or from any members of parties opposite, about a date or a place that they have met.
The Syrian community wanted to meet with the minister. It wrote and it called the minister. It emailed the minister. It received a reply. The Syrian community responded back to Mr. Braun of the minister's office and it said:
Thank you for the phone conversation and we look forward to receiving a positive response to our request for a meeting with the Honourable Minister. In anticipation of the meeting, please find attached our proposals for government action to help the victims of the disaster in Syria. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Best Regards.
That was on February 19. That was two and a half months ago. The Syrian community is still waiting to hear from the minister telling them that he is going to meet with them. They are waiting to hear from the minister about the programs he will put forward in order to help them and the diaspora.
There are hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced. There are 70,000-plus people who have been killed. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.
Bishops have been abducted, and we issue press releases. There has to be something more concrete than just issuing press releases. We are monitoring the situation in Syria. Our hearts and prayers are with the Syrians. The community thanks us for the press release and the good words and asks us to put this into action.
Canadian Syrians have family that they can sponsor. Then they are waiting and waiting for a phone call or a signal from the government that it is going to do this.
We did it for others; why are we not doing it for the Syrians? Previous governments did it for Sri Lanka, for India and for Pakistan. The current government did it for a number of places, China being one of them, after the earthquake and after it was pushed. Why not from Syria?
Why is the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism going to the Middle East and saying that we are going to take thousands of refugees? He goes to the camps where the Syrians are and says we are going to take thousands of refugees. The only thing he does not say clearly is that we are going to continue the program we already have—for Iraqis. That is old news from yesterday and the day before.
The minister does not announce that we are going to take thousands of UNHCR-accepted refugees into Canada; he does not announce that. He says that we are going to take thousands of refugees in the program that already exists, and it is only for the Iraqis.
It is the same thing that he said to the Coptic community in Toronto about a year ago. After the difficulties with the Copts, he said to that community that we were taking refugees from the Middle East, and the Coptic community is still waiting.
It is the same thing with the Syrian community. They are still waiting for that phone call. They are waiting for the something that says we are going to engage them.
What has happened in Syria with the use of gas and the difficulties that exist with the neighbours beside them was put forward eloquently here tonight by all sides. Members on all sides were saying that what is happening there is a tragedy, but there are two things we have not done.
The current government has a Reform base and always caters to that base, and there are two things it does not want to do. It does not want to open the doors to people who want to sponsor people from Syria. The Conservatives do not want to open the doors to children who want to sponsor their parents and bring them to Canada. They are saying they can come on a super visa; when that is over, they will kick them back.
If I am in Canada and my parents are in a place that is undergoing difficulties such as those Syria, and I know I can look after them on a daily basis and I know I have the money to care for them, I do not see why my country, the country I am paying tax in, will not allow that to happen when it allowed it to happen from other countries. The Syrian diaspora is asking, “Why not us? Why is our government not responding in the same way that it responded to others?”
The people of that community even go further: they say they will help by donating money, millions of dollars, to the Red Cross, World Vision and government-approved NGOs, and they ask us to match them. Funding in the thousands and millions of dollars was matched for other countries, so the question again is, why not for Syria?
I am perplexed, really perplexed, that although all of Canada wants to engage, open its pockets and give, the Government of Canada certainly is not engaging. I am not sure if has a hidden agenda or if it dislikes the Syrian diaspora; I am not sure what the case situation is, but it is certainly not engaging.
My question is this: will the government members please find some soft part in their hearts to allow the Syrian community to adopt their parents and grandparents in order for them to be able to come to Canada? Will it allow the community to sponsor people that have been determined to be refugees and have been accepted by UNHCR to come to Canada? The community will step forward and look after them.
Last but not least, we should work with the Syrian diaspora to match dollar for dollar what it is raising, what it has raised by itself and through government-approved NGOs, so that it is not left out and to make sure that all communities are treated equally. Engagement in community is first and foremost. We must give communities the tools to build nations. There is nothing more important at this point in time than engaging the Syrian diaspora and providing sustainable development for nation building.
Syria is in ruins. Syria must be rebuilt after the civil war is over. If we do not engage the Syrian Canadian diaspora, we will have failed. There is no one better, who knows the situation on the ground and the language, and has the capabilities to rebuild the country than the diaspora in Canada.
