Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, we were speaking about the selection of Syrians, knowing that the Canadian government was preparing to make an announcement in December 2014 of its commitments to bring in Syrian refugees. The announcement was delayed because, as we understand it, and which seemed to be confi

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The caps that Brian Dyck was referring to have been particularly affecting refugees from Africa. There have been very serious limits on the number of refugees who can be sponsored out of Africa. The timelines for processing have been particularly long. The other constraints mean

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, I agree. We regretted the fact that the source country class was eliminated. It did need some reform, but we would be very interested in finding ways to make it viable. As Chantal has said, there are also other mechanisms that can be used and that can be more flexible, suc

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'd like to highlight the situation of Africa. More than a third of the people in need of resettlement are in Africa, but they tend to be marginalized again and again. Of course, the committee has heard very many compelling cases, and I'm sure we would agree that they should al

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think that the Canadian government is engaged, in terms of funding, for example. There's a lot of reliance by IDPs on support from the international community that Canada can and does contribute to and could do more. As I say, there are ways of engaging diplomatically, playin

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There's a very large number of people who are internally displaced, and they do tend to be forgotten in various different ways. It's a complicated business to respond to internally displaced people. Their situation in some countries can be particularly vulnerable because they are

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much. I am here today to represent the Canadian Council for Refugees, which is an umbrella organization with about 180 member organizations, many of which are heavily involved in resettlement. First of all, I'd like to congratulate you for putting the focus on vul

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I speak on the basis of the positions that our organization has taken. We haven't particularly taken that as a position, but we are constantly hearing from our members how important it is, to refugees and other vulnerable migrants, to get to citizenship as soon as possible. It is

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We haven't considered that particular question. Previously the rule was that you could get half-time for time in Canada, for up to one year. The reality is unfortunately that a lot of refugees, live-in caregivers, and other people waiting for permanent residence, spend too long i

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There may be issues in terms of getting parental permission where that is appropriate, but where there is no parent or legal guardian, they should not be prevented from getting citizenship.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The CCR is very concerned about statelessness and calls on Canada to sign on to the 1954 convention on the status of stateless persons.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, the financial barriers are quite considerable, especially if you have a large family. A lot of the Syrian refugees that have arrived have many children, so we're thinking already of what it's going to be like for them to pay the fees. In addition to the fees, you may have to

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We would like to see the law amended so that there is no discrimination on the basis of age, so that somebody under 18 who meets all of the other qualifications can apply for citizenship.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you for the question. I think there are multiple levels of barriers. There's the question of learning the languages. I think the experience of our members is that people who come to us, many of them refugees or family-class immigrants, do want to learn English or French.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you for the question. To give an example, suppose you have a couple of siblings who have fled to Canada as refugees, and one of them is slightly older than the other. They are unaccompanied minors. They are recognized as refugees in Canada. They apply for permanent reside