Citizenship and Immigration committee  Do you want to try that one?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much. I think the question is, in many ways, hypothetical. As officials of the Government of Canada, we are looking at evidence, we are looking at data and we are providing our best advice to the government of the day.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If I could, yes. I want to reflect on the baton that gets passed from international assistance to immigration. As Mr. Salewicz mentioned, from a development and humanitarian perspective, you'll recall that education in crisis situations is very important. It's through mechanisms

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, that pilot is still in place. I can't speak to its permanency, but it has been extended to March 2020, which is signalling the strong performance of that pilot project, and in particular the excellent work of the Rainbow Refugee Society. We recognize entirely, in full agree

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think I can start with a response, and then I'll invite our colleague Mr. Salewicz to speak in part on how the global compact for refugees recognizes all individuals globally who have been forcibly displaced, which could also include those who have been displaced due to climate

Citizenship and Immigration committee  With regard to the global compact on refugees, the situation is very much the same. This is not a binding agreement in any way. The government of the day will always have the right to amend policies as it sees fit and based on evidence, but not because of any compulsion by the co

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think what we all see is that refugee crises are really regional problems. We wouldn't want them to be crises that only one country bears the burden of. The multilateral system and multilateral approaches have been proven to be effective and efficient in helping to manage large

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think we are talking about two different things. First of all, the 1951 convention definition of a refugee has not changed. It has been reaffirmed by the global compact on refugees. What's pointed to in the document, however, is a reference to mixed migration. This is something

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Unfortunately, I'm a policy director, not in charge of our operations. I'd be happy to connect with our operations colleagues to be very precise as to what those flexibilities might be.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, there will be no impact on the selection of refugees by the privately sponsored refugee stream. On the compact, as has already been stated today, it's very clear that Canada is a world leader in the space of resettling refugees. What we call upon other countries to do is to f

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's a very interesting question. The fact of the matter is that the international community has come together to reaffirm the importance of the 1951 convention, which defined “refugee”. At this point I would say that hasn't happened in the negotiations. It has not been raised,

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The important thing we'd like to point out, and it's fundamental for both compacts, is that this is a non-binding agreement. There's nothing that the United Nations would do that would force them to do anything.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'd like to refer you to the parliamentary secretary.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Again, in that case, no, the compact has no impact on the blended visa office referral program because in all cases we are fundamentally working with the definition of a “refugee”, which is one that has been reaffirmed through this process and is standing on the shoulders of the

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Further to the question on the safe third country agreement as we explained earlier, there are criteria that we look to as part of the review process. The department and the government are doing this on a regular basis, so we're very aware of the situation in the United States an