An overview of Canadas refugee policy

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An overview of Canadas refugee policy
Canadian Council for Refugees March 2005
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Refugees are part of Canada

• From 1995 to 2004 Canada welcomed more than 2.1
  million immigrants.
• This included 265,685 (12 of the whole) refugees
  granted permanent residence.
• How much do you know about Canadas record
  towards refugees?

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Canadas early record

• Refugee protection was not part of Canadian law
  until 1978.
• Early immigration policy discriminated by race
• British and northern Europeans were
• encouraged to immigrate whereas...

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Canadas early record
Chinese immigrants had to pay a Head Tax
(increased to 500 in 1903) Asians and others
deemed undesirable were excluded by the
"continuous passage" policy, and
Immigration Department used its discretion to
discourage Black immigrants.
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Komagatu Maru

• South Asians came
• to Vancouver on the
• ship the Komagatu
• Maru in 1914 to test
• the "continuous
• journey policy.
• They were refused
• entry.

Vancouver Public Library photo no.6231
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Discrimination against Jews

• In the 1930s and 40s thousands of European Jews
  tried to flee Nazi Germany.
• Motivated by anti-semitism, the Canadian
  government used its discretion to exclude Jews.

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Discrimination against Jews
1938 Canadian citizens tried, unsuccessfully, to
change this policy. They did manage to get the
Government to admit some non-Jews, including the
Canadian Czech shoe industrialist Thomas Bata (of
the Bata Shoe Museum) and 82 of his workers.
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International treaty to recognize refugees

• 1951 The Geneva Convention relating to the
  status of refugees defined who was a refugee and
  their right to legal protection and assistance
  from those states who signed.

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Definition in 1951 Refugee Convention

• a refugee is any person who
• " owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted
  for reasons of race, religion, nationality,
  membership of a particular social group or
  political opinion, is outside the country of his
  (sic) nationality and is unable to, or owing to
  such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the
  protection of that country"

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1951 Refugee Convention

• '51 Convention was limited to protecting the
  approximately 50 million European refugees after
  World War II

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Addition to 1951 Convention

• 1967 Additional protocol expanded geographical
  scope of the Convention as problem of
  displacement around the world was recognized.
• '51 Convention refugee definition still applies
  today. States interpret it to include or
  restrict certain categories of people. For
  example, Canada recognizes women and gays fleeing
  gender persecution as "members of a particular
  social group."

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Canada and '51 Refugee Convention

• Canada didnt sign '51 Convention (and protocol)
  until 1969. (The RCMP advised against it based
  on fears it would restrict Canadas ability to
  deport refugees for security reasons.)
• Before 1969, refugees were selected overseas and
  admitted to Canada by group, e.g
• 1956 - over 37,000 Hungarians
• 1968 - nearly 11,000 Czech refugees
• 1973 - more than 7,000 Asian Ugandans
• 1975 - nearly 1,200 Chileans

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Cold War " enemies "

• Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Canada readily
  granted refuge to people fleeing communist
  regimes.
• There were two designated classes, East European
  Self-Exiled Persons and Indochinese Designated
  Class, for such people.

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1978 New Canadian Immigration Act

• 1978 was first time an Immigration Act included a
  humanitarian category for refugees needing
  protection and resettlement.
• It also established the Private Sponsorship of
  Refugees Program which allowed Canadians to be
  involved in the resettlement of refugees.

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Canadians sponsor refugees

• 1979 Canadians enthusiastically applied to
  sponsor Boat People under new private sponsorship
  program.
• 1986 UN awarded the Nansen medal to the Canadian
  people in "recognition of their major and
  sustained contribution to the cause of refugees".

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Canadian Charter applies to refugee claimants (1)

• April 4, 1985
• Supreme Court
• rules the
• Canadian Charter of
• Rights and Freedoms
• protects the basic
• rights and freedoms
• of refugee claimants
• in Canada.

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Canadian Charter applies to refugee claimants (2)

• Refugee determination must respect the
  principles of fundamental justice.
• Fundamental justice requires that, where
  credibility is an issue, refugee claimants must
  have an oral hearing.

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Singh Decision 1985

• Known as the Singh decision, this Supreme Court
  decision declared that refugee claimants are
  entitled to basic standards of rights protection.
• 1988 Immigration and Refugee Board to created to
  hear refugee claims.
• April 4, date of Singh decision, is annually
  commemorated by Canadian refugee supporters as
  Refugee Rights Day.

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Where are refugees today?
Statistics from UNHCR 2002 Statistical Yearbook,
published July 2004.
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Global cooling toward refugees

• Today refugees still need protection, but
• many states in the industrialized world are
• becoming less welcoming to refugees by
• making it harder for refugees to reach their
  territory and,
• enacting measures that make it less likely that
  those who arrive get a fair hearing.

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Interdiction of refugees (1)

• Officials are stationed at airports to stop
  anyone, including refugees, without proper
  documentation from embarking planes for Western
  countries.
• U.S. intercepts and detains Cuban and Haitian
  asylum-seekers trying to reach it by boat, and
  mandatorily detains certain categories of
  asylum-seekers who arrive in the U.S.

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Interdiction of refugees (2)

• 2001 Australian
• Government turned
• back Iraqi and Afghan
• asylum-seekers trying to
• reach its shores and
• later tried to discredit
• them by accusing
• them of throwing their
• children overboard.

www.truthoverboard.com
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Canada seen as leader in refugee protection

• Relative to other countries, Canada
• has earned a reputation as a leader
• with some POSITIVE ELEMENTS
• a) an independent expert tribunal,
• with excellent documentation,
• b) gender guidelines
• c) until recently, minimal detention of
• refugee claimants
• d) an active resettlement program.

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Canadas leadership is relative

• However, Canada s system has serious
• shortcomings
• Stopping refugee claimants from reaching Canada.
• Refusing to provide appeal.
• Delays in processing applications of sponsored
  refugees.
• Slow processing of refugees spouses and childen
  to join them in Canada.
• Not challenging anti-refugee discourse.

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Issues for CanadaSafe Third Country Agreement
(1)

• December 2004 Canadian Government
• designated the US a safe third
• country, closing the land border to
• most refugee claimants.
• Only a few exceptions apply (e.g. if
• one has family with status in Canada)

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Issues for CanadaSafe Third Country Agreement
(2)

• But the U.S. is not safe for refugees because
• 1000s of refugee claimants, including children,
  are detained in the U.S., some for years.
• U.S. fails to protect refugees due to narrow
  interpretation of refugee Convention and rules
  such as one-year bar to claiming.

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Issues for CanadaSafe Third Country Agreement
(3)

• U.S. discriminates by detaining Haitians based
  on nationality people from Muslim countries are
  at high risk of detention.
• 2002 U.S. deportation of Canadian citizen Maher
  Arar to Syria demonstrates their low regard for
  human rights of some non-U.S. citizens.

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Issues for Canada Canada refuses to implement
appeal

• Many refugees are recognized in Canada,
• but some are mistakenly denied
• No appeal on merits.
• The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has
  urged Canada to provide appeal.
• 2002 Canadian Parliament adopted law that created
  Refugee Appeal Division but Government has
  refused to implement it.

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Issues for Canada Sponsored refugees wait for
years

• As of 2005, more than 12,000 refugees
• overseas are waiting for a decision
• Refugees sponsored in 2005 may not even be
  interviewed until 2008.
• Private sponsors in Canada lose hope.

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Issues for Canada Families wait to be reunited

• Some refugees in Canada wait years for
• their spouses/children to be allowed to
• join them
• Barriers in processing (e.g. DNA testing) and
  scarce resources in Canadian visa posts cause
  delays.
• Lives of family members overseas can be at risk.

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Issues for CanadaAnti-refugee discourse

• Some Canadian media and experts carry
• simplistic messages that dangerously present
• one group of refugees as more deserving than
• another
• Refugees in camps are presented as "good"
  refugees who wait patiently overseas.
• Refugees who come to Canada to claim refugee
  status are presented as "bad", accused of jumping
  an imaginary queue.

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What is wrong with this message?

• It allows governments to manipulate public opinon
  by scapegoating refugee claimants (e.g. in 2001
  the Australian Government used anti-refugee
  rhetoric to win the election).
• It violates international law which obliges
  states (including Canada) to respect the right to
  flee persecution to seek refuge.
• It creates hate and fear toward a vulnerable
  group of people.

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Future challenges

• What do
• YOU think
• they are?