Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Good afternoon, and thanks for having me. I'll just step back and let you know a bit about Rainbow Railroad and how we're affected by Iran and the situation facing individuals in Iran, and other countries around the world. Rainbow Railroad was established in 2006, although we b

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The International Lesbian and Gay Association is probably the best source for keeping a tally on states that criminalize same-sex behaviours. Their 2016 report mentions 73 states, and I believe there are 13, including Iran, in which it's punishable by death. I don't know if they

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The majority of the people who request our help and who we manage to move to safety come from the Caribbean. Jamaica, in particular, is well documented for having LGBTQI2-S human rights abuses, where you see just horrific examples of brutality against that community. Our ties i

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  To my knowledge, there is not. My colleague Arsham will be able to speak to that with more detail, but from my understanding, the answer is no.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I wonder if I could help finish the question that was asked.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's about civil society. I think it's important to understand how exactly we are able to help individuals who request our help and who need a pathway to safety. We have to do three things. We have to be able to verify the case through any means necessary. We have an army of vo

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I can answer that. In response to the specific question of whether the situation is the same for an LGBTQI2-spirit individual as it is for another refugee, the answer is no. I think it's really important to understand that when people make an asylum claim or go through the syste

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. Hello, everyone. My name is Kimahli Powell, and I am the executive director of Rainbow Railroad. Founded in 2006, Rainbow Railroad is a Canadian charity based in Toronto with a mandate to help LGBTQ2I individuals get to safety. We respond to urgent requests from all

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In particular right now, we're also concerned about nearly 500 LGBTQI asylum seekers who fled to Kenya, many of them from Uganda, who face homophobic and violent conditions in the Kenyan camps. Because of the high incidence of rape and physical assault, they are isolated inside t

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It all depends on how many people we're willing to support. Certainly, we know there's a minimum responsibility for just over 12,000 individuals per year. We'd like to see a greater commitment. Since the program started, the government gave out over $300,000 and private individu

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As I said before during my testimony, we're receiving these requests from across the country. I think a program from the government would send a signal that this program is important and that people would start their fundraising efforts. We're also in a position to have more reso

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. Obviously we're here to support the RRAP. It's really important that this program continue, as it's one of the main priorities for this for sponsorship across the country. We are also very much engaged with the immediate escape of individuals facing persecution.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We're hoping for a response from the government that will allow for the immediate entry into Canada for people who are persecuted.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Sure. I'll start. Thank you. That's a pretty good summary, better than my testimony, so thank you for that.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's a great summary. Thank you. I mentioned in my testimony that we received 700 requests last year. All of them are pretty heartbreaking. We go through a pretty extensive verification process that includes reaching out to individuals on the ground. As a board member of the int