Humanitarian, Refugees and Foreign Affairs

We live in an interconnected world, and events transpiring worldwide ultimately affects Canadians, whether we are speaking about economic trade, global prices of goods and commodities, knowledge and skills exchange, effects of climate change, disease transmission and control, natural disaster management, and others. Fulfilling our international obligations protects and serves the interests of Canadians.

People fleeing war, persecution or natural disasters face tremendous barriers to obtaining necessary travel documents. For this reason, I have been advocating for visa-free travel for urgent, life-and-death situations such as the war in Ukraine. I have also been advocating for the government to rescind the safe third country agreement because often, refugees cannot get to safety without first going to a third country. It is paramount that Canada has an adequately resourced immigration system that can act with flexibility and expediency in times of crisis without compromising national security standards.

As your Member of Parliament, I will fight to ensure Canada fulfills its humanitarian and environmental obligations as a member of the international community.

Hill Times NEWS: Concern mounts over how immigration cuts will hit slow-moving program for Sudanese war refugees

NDP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.), her party’s immigration critic, told The Hill Times that the Sudanese family reunification is “deficient” and “extremely restrictive.”

She said the regime for Sudanese family members stands in contrast to the speed and size of the program to bring Ukrainians fleeing the war to Canada.

“Community members are rightfully pointing out the stark difference of the political decision of the government to facilitate special immigration measures from one country versus that of others,” Kwan said. “How is it that the government can come in with an arbitrary cap of 3,250? And then when we’re talking about the Ukrainian situation, there was no cap.”

“You have to question: why do some countries with conflict situations have caps and others don’t?”

Kwan, speaking to The Hill Times prior to the unveiling of the new immigration levels plan, said a reduction would exacerbate the situation.

“I am very worried about that—that the government will choose political expediency over lives,” she said.

After the release of the new plan, Kwan said in a statement that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Ont.) announced the changes thinking that “scapegoating newcomers will somehow turn his political fortunes around.”

Parliament VIDEO: "Sudanese Canadians deserve equitable treatment in the world's largest displacement crisis"

HANSARD: QP Question on Sudan

HANSARD: Members Statement on Sudan

Parliament VIDEO: House Statement on Gaza

HANSARD: Failure to Help Canadian Family Members in Gaza

HANSARD: Order Questions on Hong Kong Pathway

CBC NEWS: U.S. border patrol reports record number of encounters with migrants at the Canadian border

FINA#147: Bill C-69 on Concerns Around Expanding Immigration Detention into Federal Prisons

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I will speak to it very briefly.

As I was indicating, on March 13, over 80 civil societies, settlement agencies and religious organizations wrote a strongly worded letter to the Prime Minister with their concerns around expanding immigration detention into federal prisons.

Earlier today, the provisions around setting up this format were passed, but with that being said, this amendment is an attempt by the NDP to at least try to put some parameters within that framework, to have “high risk” clearly defined in legislation rather than leaving it up to regulation and having it be defined behind closed doors.

To that end, Mr. Chair, that's what the amendment seeks to do. The definition of “high risk” is really meant to provide some limitations around what would be deemed as high risk in this instance.

Mr. Chair, I just want to highlight a couple of elements within that. I won't, of course, read the entire amendment into the record here.

Really, we attempted to put some parameters there as to the nature and level of danger to the public the person poses related to, for example, any conviction to do with sexual offences or an offence involving violence or weapons and for the same conviction outside of Canada. As well, there are provisions with regard to pending charges for these offences. Also, we wanted to put parameters around engagement with terrorism or gang activities and such.

Mr. Chair, I think these are some of the provisions for declaring what is deemed to be “high risk” in that context.

The other thing worth noting here is that we're also adding to this with an amendment around mental health; when considering these matters, the mental health aspect of the individual should also be taken into consideration. That's written within the amendment here.

Of course, there are some accountability measures related to it, which means that when someone is to be detained, there has to be some level of accountability with respect to written notice advising the individual as such and then, of course, allowing the individual to undertake representation if they seek to do so.

That's a quick summary of where it is at in terms of trying to put these parameters in place.

Click to read the full discussion from the Committee meeting

The Hub: Richard Shimooka: Canada’s shameful betrayal of our Afghan partners goes beyond Sajjan’s specific actions

How many hundreds, if not thousands of individuals were left stranded we will likely never know—even the government itself is unsure. In June 2022, NDP Member of Parliament Jenny Kwan alleged that the government had lost 2,900 applications from individuals who had an “enduring relationship” with Canada. It’s one of the few indicators of the potential size of the problem.

Certainly, the deliberate effort not to assist these individuals prior to July 2021 condemned many to their deaths, as did the hurried, shifting evacuation efforts for the month of August. Again, how many will likely never be known, which is perhaps convenient for the government.