Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, I do not.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, of course. I've worked with refugees all over the world. I've worked with refugees from Iraq, Namibia, Sudan, Eritrea, China. I've worked with refugees all over the world, and first and foremost they need to get to a safe place. Once they're here, they need supports. Many of them have suffered extreme violence, and it is a long process for them to feel safe and be able to resettle.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In general I would suggest it should be based on need, but of course there are always situations where Canada may decide to do a special program or respond to an urgent need. I think the main thing when you look at those numbers is that we need to increase our number of refugees.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As I've said, that's a very difficult task, and I recommend communicating with experts on the ground and using objective criteria.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  To be honest, most refugees are resettled in neighbouring countries, in some of the poorest countries in the world, and it is the wealthier countries that are not, in fact, doing their fair share.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's a very good question. I find it difficult to comment on the very specific situation, but I could say in general that I agree that there are problems with the UN system. There are problems here for the Yazidi refugees and there are problems all over the world for people who cannot get to camps that are not identified by the UNHCR.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's correct.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's correct.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  My understanding is that without objective criteria, the task runs the risk of becoming arbitrary and fraught. I'm not saying that these special programs were arbitrary. I'm not saying that at all, because there was clearly a pressing need and an urgency. But there is the risk, and I think that's why the UNHCR has objective criteria based on need and vulnerability, that where you pursue special programs, especially “in the place of” instead of “in addition to” the general refugee resettlement program, the process could end up becoming based on a host of factors, for example, what stories are getting coverage in the media or the wishes of different community groups.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's an incredibly difficult task to figure out who is the most vulnerable among the most vulnerable. That's why I think an objective criterion is necessary. That's why I referred to the global resettlement criteria. That's not perfect and of course there are crises that elevate a need for protection on a localized basis and it is completely appropriate for Canada to have special programs in those circumstances.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for the invitation to speak to you today. I work as a refugee lawyer in Vancouver. I am the president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, but I am speaking on my own behalf today. Before I start my comments, I should say that my work is and has been primarily with refugees who have already somehow made their way to Canada and claimed asylum once they arrived here.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, that's a great question. Definitely, that is a problem, because the officer is tasked with figuring out the genuineness of the relationship, but all these relationships are happening in all sorts of different cultures of which the officer likely doesn't have a real understanding.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Solely relying on “He said this and you said that” in this particular interview is problematic. Look at all the evidence before you on a sponsorship application and don't put so much weight on the interviews.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I mean, if you look at the way the exception is written, it's very broad, and the guidelines that have been issued talk about a lot of different kinds of evidence as acceptable. That's not the issue. The issue is, no matter what you do, no matter how you change that guideline, you still have to tell a woman who comes into your office, “You're going to have to apply and ask somebody to decide whether or not you meet the exception”, so that's the decision.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, I have. In terms of spousal sponsorships, it is faster. But the point I was making was about the category of caregivers. That has not gotten faster.