In Committee

AFGN#6: Humanitarian Assistance for the Afghan people

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
On the question around resources, there's no question that there's a lack of resources for processing the application. The minister indicated at the immigration committee that it takes on average three years for privately sponsored refugees to make their way to Canada. They were contemplating that for the Ukraine situation, and if it's going to take three years, it's too long. You're right that there are too many people who are stuck in the backlog.
What should the government do by way of resourcing this properly so that we can get in the people who have been waiting and backlogged in the queue from other countries, as well as the people who are now in need of refugee status? Should they apply the same immigration measures they have made available to Ukraine so that people can come with a temporary residence permit and then make the application for refugee status here in Canada, or even extend that to privately sponsored opportunities?

Dr. Wendy Cukier, Founder, Lifeline Afghanistan, and Professor, Ryerson University, Ted Rogers School of Management
There are innovative approaches that governments have used in the past. There were 25,000 Syrian refugees who came in four months because the Prime Minister and the minister made a commitment and pulled out the stops. Whether you do it in the way they're doing it with Ukrainians or whether we do it the way we did it with Syrians, it's possible, but it does require resources and, more importantly, it requires shared political will. This can't be a partisan issue; this has to be a Canadian project.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
I would agree that there needs to be innovation. Mind you, with the Syrian refugee initiative, the government didn't quite do it in four months, but I get your point. What you're saying is that it can be done much better than what is being done now, and what it needs is collaboration from all the parties and NGOs on the ground to get this work done. If the government's willing to lift the cap and make that opportunity available, I would absolutely agree with that.
I want to come back to the backlogs because part of the problem is this: The government announced the process for Afghans; however, they did not put additional resources into IRCC. Not only are people in other countries with refugee status backlogged, all immigration streams have been backlogged and there's complete chaos. That is the situation right now.
The government says it has put in additional resources, but these are not enough to deal with what we are dealing with right now. From that perspective, should there be a dedicated specific response and resources, both in financial resources as well as immigration levels numbers, to address the issue? Could I get a quick answer?

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AFGH#5: Humanitarian Assistance for the Afghan people

David Theodore Lavery, As an Individual
I'll comment on the very beginning.
Back in July, we reached out to all the key people in the Canadian embassy, the security department and their program managers. We tried reaching out to the chargé d'affaires—the deputy. We sent a message off to them and the ambassador. The common response, especially when we were in the early stages, was that they were too busy, that they didn't really have time for us and that type of thing.
We kept on coming back at them. We utilized our team in Canada to try to get influence and to try to get the spark going. It just seemed like...maybe they were overwhelmed or maybe they were preoccupied with other issues, but the desire and the will to try to engage at that stage.... They pushed us aside.
That was, I guess, one of the pivotal points for us. It was the Canadian embassy's lack of engagement at that point in time, not only with me on the ground, but with our senior personnel back with the team in Canada.
That's all I would pass on at this stage.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
The reference to Ukraine was raised. The call for visa-free is going to be essential for Ukraine, and the government hasn't acted on that yet. I guess, similarly in this instance, dealing with the biometrics issue and waiving those documentations is key so that people can get out.
In terms of this, is your number one call for the government to waive the biometrics or engage with NGOs on the ground to get this work done to get people to safety?  Maybe we'll go to Mr. Lavery and then Ms. Long.

David Theodore Lavery, As an Individual
Yes, very quickly, you'd want to do both: engage with the talent on the ground and also have a waiver in place, but make sure you have the capability through that reliable partner on the ground.
Maybe I can turn it over to Eleanor or Wendy.

Eleanor Taylor, Deputy Executive Director, Aman Lara
Our number one priority at Aman Lara is most certainly a way to confirm identity in Afghanistan. We understand that the Government of Canada has a responsibility to confirm identity. I want to make it clear that there sometimes is a perception that Canada requires a passport. Canada does not require a passport. The Afghan passport is required for Afghans who are leaving Afghanistan to cross the Pakistani border. That's not a requirement of the Government of Canada. Yes, we think we can deliver that requirement of the Government of Afghanistan, either directly or indirectly, to support them in that confirmation of identity piece.

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AFGH#4: Humanitarian Assistance for the Afghan people

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
With respect to resettlement support and getting people to safety, the reality is that the current streams cannot be applied to many people. Many people are still within Afghanistan. The stream that the government has provided is that they need to be in a third country.In the face of this situation, what specific recommendation do you have for the government so that we can ensure that people who are in Afghanistan would be able to access resettlement supports?

Asma Faizi, President, Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services
We've been asking for this to ensure that they open up the ability of Afghans from inside Afghanistan to seek resettlement. There was a short window where they had opened it, and then it was unclear as to why, but they shut it out. It's very important, and I can give an example.
Just in the last couple of weeks, I've had a number of Canadian organizations that want to help some women who are trapped inside Afghanistan and are in hiding. They were calling me to ask what were their options. Unfortunately, for the pathways that are open for those kinds of cases, they need to be outside of the country.
Canada needs to enable that once again, to allow those from inside Afghanistan to be able to apply for the resettlement program.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
You said there was a short window. Do you recall when that window was?

Asma Faizi, President, Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services
I believe it was in October. There was a two-week window when we were informed they were going to allow the vulnerable Afghans to seek resettlement, and then a couple of weeks later, we found out that it was no longer available.

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AFGH#3: Humanitarian Assistance for the Afghan people

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
I'd like to turn to another question, related to the situation on the ground. We've heard from presenters about refugee or immigration measures, how it's almost impossible—in fact, in many cases it is impossible—for people who are still in Afghanistan to get to safety. The suggestion was to ensure that the Canadian government brings in special immigration measures, such as issuing temporary residence permits to those who need to get to safety immediately, as well as waiving the requirements for documentation.
I'd like to hear from the organizations about this. Is this something you would call on the government to enact immediately?

Khalidha Nasiri, Executive Director, Afghan Youth Engagement and Development Initiative
The short answer is, absolutely. One of the members mentioned that a 10-year-old girl who was eligible to come under one of these programs died because her application was delayed. Last week, we heard of an unnamed brother of a Canadian embassy worker who was killed, presumably by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and whose application was delayed because of paperwork.
Absolutely, we think these measures would work.

Dr. Lauryn Oates, Executive Director, Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan
Absolutely, we need to forge agreements with other governments. Again, this is something the U.S. has done. We have followed suit in so many U.S.-driven policies in Afghanistan that had bad outcomes for Afghans, so it would be good if we also emulated some that could have good outcomes.
I would emphasize that the danger is not in leaving Afghanistan; it's in staying in Afghanistan. That was tragically exemplified in the case of the girl in Kandahar who was killed while waiting to come to Canada.
We, as a small NGO, have been able to get eight families out on our own, without any assistance from the government. I can't say it was easy, but we did it, and many other organizations have done the same. If we had the government supporting us to do the same, we could do so much more. We could get people out.

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AFGH#2: Humanitarian Assistance for the Afghan people and Committee Business

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP

Well, time is of the essence, and the urgency is clearly there. I can't imagine what it must be like for your workers and your organization to not be able to deliver aid when you see the crisis that exists right now, where children are literally starving. I would say that time is of the essence. We need the government to respond ASAP.

I want to turn to a different question for the representative from the UNHCR. Part of the issue, of course, with the resettlement support—which is not the only solution but certainly part of the solution—is that people within Afghanistan cannot get UNHCR designation. This is an ongoing problem. People have to get to a third country to get to safety to access that.

I wonder whether or not this is an issue that has been brought up by your organization with the minister and what suggestion you might have to address this crisis. Would waiving the UNHCR designation requirement at this time, under these extraordinary circumstances, be appropriate?

Indrika Ratwatte, Director, Regional Bureau of Asia and the Pacific, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

As my colleague mentioned, by mandate and international law, refugees have to cross an international border as refugees to benefit from UNHCR's work and solutions. One part of what we are doing right now is really robustly increasing our resettlement capacity in the neighbouring countries, because Afghans are coming across to these countries, but within Afghanistan we have advocated for bilateral mechanisms to enable Afghans to get out of Afghanistan. At whatever third locations they can then come to, we are available to extend our good offices, but waiving that requirement at this point in time, Madam Kwan, I don't think would be possible.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP

Yes, within UNHCR, that is not something within your authority to do, but it's certainly within the Canadian government's authority to do so, as is allowing people to get to safety. Otherwise people in dire circumstances would not be able to do so.

I wonder, Mr. Messenger, if you've seen on the ground, for the women and the girls particularly who have been actively persecuted or who are in hiding, what they can do to get to safety if refugee status cannot be obtained?

Michael Messenger, President and Chief Executive Officer, World Vision Canada

This is a challenging question. I'm going to ask Ms. McKinlay to answer since she is closer to what's happening on the ground.

Julie McKinlay, Director, Fragile and Humanitarian Programs, World Vision Canada

That's a very challenging question in a short amount of time. The situation is changing minute by minute. We do what we can to support our teams on the ground and encourage them to find the safest point they can, but that does change. There's a lot of uncertainty and lack of clarity, I think, even for our teams who have submitted applications for asylum to other countries. An encouragement would be ensuring that there is a response to those applications so families know what their status is and can plan accordingly, but it's very challenging.

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AFGH#1: First meeting of Special Committee on Afghanistan

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Emergency study on Irregular Border Crossings

In July, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration completed an emergency study on the situation of asylum seekers crossing into Canada irregularly from the US border.

A Study on the Immigration and Refugee Board’s Appointment, Training, and Complaint Processes

As displacement and forced migration increases, the willingness to share in the responsibility to provide vulnerable people a safe haven to rebuild their lives is decreasing, especially amongst the wealthiest nations in the world. Canada has thus far gone against that trend, remaining a welcoming nation with a humanitarian spirit. However, the trust Canadians have in the system is at risk of being lost if the situation with irregular migrants is not managed properly.

Hearing from the Minister on Main Estimates, Interim Estimates, and Supplementary Estimates for the 2018-19 Budget as it pertained to immigration

In March, I asked the Minister whether the 2018 budget has increased much needed funding to the SWIS program to ensure that students and families do not fail in the resettlement process. In addition, I inquired as to whether the government is doing anything to address the issue of lack of affordable housing, particularly for newcomers. Unfortunately, it seems that there is no funding specifically allocated to housing when it comes to resettlement, hence the large number of refugees in shelters.

Hearing from the Minister on Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan

Back in February the Committee had a hearing from the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship on Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan.  During this meeting, I once again brought the issue of the discriminatory nature of medical inadmissibility in Canada’s immigration system, Section 38(1)(c) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).

NDP STATEMENT ON THE M-103 REPORT: TAKING ACTION AGAINST SYSTEMIC RACISM AND RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION INCLUDING ISLAMOPHOBIA

To build a better Canada, all parties need to work collaboratively to address systemic racism and religious discrimination. There is significant statistical evidence and personal testimony highlighting an increase in hate incidents towards Muslims. Despite this, partisan politicking and debate over the term ‘Islamophobia’ disappointingly hindered discussion of how we can best combat the rise in hate crimes in Canada, including those directed towards Muslim Canadians and their places of worship.

Motion M-39: Immigration to Atlantic Canada

Strong families build strong communities, and strong communities build a strong economy. In order for families and communities to thrive, the local economy must be sustainable. Motion M-39 was tabled in part to identify ways to increase newcomer retention to Atlantic Canada. It was quickly identified that just increasing immigration isn’t enough – substantial work needs to be done to increase the sustainability of the region so that those born there and newcomers alike wish to stay and can thrive in the region.