Citizenship and Immigration committee  [Inaudible—Editor] testimony as accurately as possible, and obviously that is harmed by insensitive questions. I would never tell someone ahead of time that they're going into a hearing with somebody who always says no. That doesn't help them. However, what we have to do then is

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Having something workable now is important.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  To expand on that, absolutely people need an initial opportunity to use the concepts and understand them. Then I would recommend actual video-recorded practice sessions so that people have an opportunity to observe themselves working and get immediate feedback on how they're aski

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I was one of the people who designed and delivered the training. I requested a longer period of time than they were able to offer. Three hours is clearly not enough. What it does allow is to give people who are inclined to be sensitive the concrete tools to be competent about it.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm Sharalyn Jordan, Rainbow Refugee chair and assistant professor in counselling psychology at Simon Fraser University. In a world where violent homophobic and transphobic hate persist and may be on the rise, Canada must live up to its promise to be a place of protection. For 1

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, this is obviously a complex question. There is no one single right answer. Many of the people we work with are referred through NGOs. There's sort of a trusted network. You heard how people had reached out to local NGOs, and they're the ones that reach out to us. People self

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The longer-term commitment would allow us to build fundraising capacity. It would also allow us to share what I call emerging best practices across groups. One of the benefits we've seen in this program is that the capacity in a local community increases, not just in the circles

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There are grave inequities across regions that need to be addressed. If we could get it down to one year globally, then it would be essential to have SOGI analysis—sexual orientation or gender identity analysis—incorporated across the board, in all of IRCC's operations, to remove

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We do need a specialized program for the internally displaced. Sexual orientation and gender identity and expression need to be considered in the vulnerability factors for that. This program should involve consultation and collaboration, resourced collaboration, with civil societ

Citizenship and Immigration committee  All the sponsorship groups that participate must include members of the local LGBTQ community. They must participate in a code of ethics orientation and process. Each member signs on to this code of ethics. There is an orientation session as well, which also works with the circle

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, absolutely. It's what will allow us to build and grow at the program.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think you've distilled many of the critical elements. There needs to be support for civil society organizations, centring LGBTQ civil society organizations to be able to work pre-arrival and post-arrival.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. Often it is the NGOs on the ground that know who is seeking protection. We are already working with Rainbow Railroad, which is working with LGBTQ Russian networks. The networks are there. It would be helpful to communicate and work closely to identify two sources, like the U

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We've had the honour of working with 800 people. We have 19 circles in formation in B.C. and 12 more on the go. There is clearly the capacity. You've heard about the fundraising capacity. There is the desire to do more. We want to be given the opportunity.