Strict visa rulings called unfair
Are visitors from developing countries being denied entry into Canada due to old rules?

Aug 21, 2007 04:30 AM
Nicholas Keung
IMMIGRATION/DIVERSITY REPORTER
The Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/248246

Guillermo Duarte had a lot to prove just to take a two-week vacation to visit his brother in Canada.

The engineer, 36, had to convince Canadian visa officers that he, his engineer wife, Luz, and their younger children Fernando, 10, and Faviola, 8, had strong enough ties to Guatemala to ensure they would leave Canada after a visit to his brother, Mauricio, in Toronto.

But after paying a non-refundable fee of $300, they were denied visitor's visas. (Even leaving two teens at home didn't convince the officer they wouldn't stay in Canada.)

While the denial cost the Duartes a ruined vacation, for other prospective visitors it might mean not being able to bid farewell to a dying relative, attend a loved one's wedding, or see a newborn grandchild.

This summer, the body of immigrant Hu Xiu-hua lay unclaimed in a Toronto morgue for eight weeks because her retired parents in China were denied a visa six times.

As a growing number of Canada's immigrants arrive from developing countries such as China, India and the Philippines, whose citizens need visas to visit, the problem of denials is becoming more acute.

Critics wonder if overseas visa officers grasp Canada's new reality when they reject entry with the stroke of a pen. A refusal may permanently affect future attempts.

"It's a very big problem for our community," says Gurmeet Singh of Brampton's Nanaksar Satsang Sabha Sikh temple. "And it's going to get worse ... if our visa officials don't change their attitude and show some compassion."

Visas are imposed to help "facilitate the entry of bonafide visitors to Canada for such purposes as trade, commerce, tourism, international understanding, and cultural, educational and scientific activities, while also protecting the health, safety and security of Canadian society," says Citizenship and Immigration spokesperson Karen Shadd-Evelyn.

New Democrat MP Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina) says her office has 65 outstanding complaints from constituents involving relatives' failed visa applications.

"Visa officers have the discretionary power to decide who to let in. There's no humanitarian and compassionate consideration. Their decisions are completely arbitrary and don't get reviewed," Chow says. "The onus should've been on the Canadian officials to show that these people would not leave Canada after their visits."

Duarte walked into the Canadian embassy in Guatemala City last month, hands full of documents: pay stubs, an employer letter, bank statements, the deeds on his three properties and a passport to show his lengthy travel history.

When his first try failed, his brother in Canada wrote an official invitation and asked his local councillor, MP and even a senator to intervene. The visa office later called Duarte in to apply for a minister's special permit for an extra $185. But by then, the date was too close to the family's booked vacation time and the airfare too expensive. "We are all disappointed," says Mauricio Duarte, who immigrated 17 years ago. "Whenever we go back home, we stay with our families and relatives. We would like to play hosts to someone when they come here."

Lawyer Avvy Go, director of the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, points out there's no guarantee that visitors from visa-exempt countries would leave Canada either.

"There's ... an underlying prejudicial overtone against those from developing countries. It's not really just a class issue, because you can be a millionaire in China but still get rejected," she says. "The visa ... is to protect our border from the `undesirables.' That's why we welcome some more than others."

Shadd-Evelyn says visa officers consider many factors in their decision, such as whether applicants can document that they have enough money to fund their stay.

Rather than paint everyone from the developing world with the same brush, says Liberal MP Colleen Beaumier (Brampton West), Ottawa should start collecting exit records on visitors so as to identify offenders, and monitor whether visa officers exercise "discretion" fairly.

Immigration lawyer Guidy Mamann says that since 9/11 visa offices have been under pressure to scrutinize applicants more closely, but with no new resources. They're inclined to be strict, he notes.

"Immigration reacts slowly to the global economic and political changes. Countries like China and India are becoming bigger economic powers," says Mamann, an ex-immigration officer. "My concern is our visa officers are still using outdated standards to judge these applications, (believing) these people will come and stay in Canada."

If nothing changes, he adds, Canada stands to lose the substantial economic benefits from delegates attending conferences, buyers going to trade shows and tourists all in a world that's become closer and more intimate than ever before.

Entry requirements

Countries whose citizens need visas to visit: 148

Where: Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, South and Central America

Non-refundable fees: single entry, $75 per person; multiple entry $150; $400 per family

Applications received at visa posts annually: 1 million

Approval rate: 80 per cent

Top 10 visitor source countries: United Kingdom, France, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, China, Netherlands and India

Visa-required countries in top 10: 2 (China and India)

Top 10 immigrant source countries: China, India, Philippines, Pakistan, United States, Iran, United Kingdom, Korea, Colombia and France

Visa-required countries in top 10: 6 (except U.S., U.K., Korea and France)

Good news - Bill C-280 passed 3rd reading in the House! Next step: the Senate.

Toronto Star
New bill misses point

May 24, 2007 04:30 AM
Allan Thompson

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley has taken steps to keep
vulnerable people out of Canada with a new bill that would instruct
immigration officers to deny work permits to foreign strippers or others
bound for "humiliating or degrading treatment." According to Finley and
her officials, these measures would help "strippers, low-skilled labourers
as well as potential victims of human trafficking," by keeping them out of
Canada and out of the degrading work.

Some newcomers to Canada would tell you strippers are not the only people
forced to work in degrading, demoralizing jobs after they arrive. Talk to
the skilled professionals driving cabs, the doctors working as orderlies
and the lawyers making telemarketing calls. They need Finley's attention
too.

Some critics see Finley's proposal as a crass political move designed to
conjure up memories of the Liberal era "strippergate," the case of an
exotic dancer who ended up working for then immigration minister Judy
Sgro. Indeed, Finley made an explicit connection to the Sgro situation in
her public rationale for the proposed changes.

Certainly there is reason to question whether Finley's proposal to use
legislative changes to block strippers should top the agenda, or even if
it is the most effective way to deal with victims of human trafficking, or
those in vulnerable situations.

The Canadian Council for Refugees, an umbrella organization for groups
dealing with refugees, has been floating a proposal for months for
legislative change that would provide more protection for victims of
trafficking who find themselves in Canada. Notably the refugee council
proposal deals with helping vulnerable people in Canada, rather than
focusing on keeping vulnerable people out of the country.

According to the refugee council, provisions in the law now serve only to
criminalize trafficking and promote the detention of trafficked persons.
The refugee council is calling for explicit changes that would make it a
priority to protect the human rights of trafficked persons in Canada.

The refugee council says the rules for how trafficked persons can seek
temporary residence in Canada are of limited use. For one thing,
applicants have to meet a high standard to prove they are indeed a victim
of trafficking. And they are obliged to talk to law enforcement officials
as part of the process of being allowed to remain, something the council
fears would deter many from even coming forward.

The refugee council's proposals are worth a look, especially if we are
serious about dealing with human trafficking.

And when it comes to addressing the needs of those vulnerable to abuse,
other issues cry out for the minister's attention. Canada has been
criticized for its agonizingly slow process for dealing with requests for
resettlement to Canada by vulnerable people. The office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is aware of the problem.

Wouldn't it make more sense to focus our energy on the vulnerable people
who need Canada's protection, rather than devising ways to keep people
out?

Government bill takes the wrong approach to the problem of trafficking

Montréal – The Canadian Council for Refugees today expressed disappointment with Bill C-57, tabled in Parliament on 16 May by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

“This bill does nothing to protect the rights of trafficked persons already here in Canada,” said Loly Rico, chair of the CCR’s Anti-Trafficking Committee. “Worse, the bill takes a condescending, moralistic approach, empowering visa officers to decide which women should be kept out of Canada for their own good.”

The CCR is deeply concerned about the exploitation of non-citizens in Canada, and the lack of adequate measures to protect them. The CCR has prepared a proposal to protect trafficked persons, available at http://www.ccrweb.ca/traffickingproposal.html.

The CCR finds Bill C-57 problematic in a number of ways:

- The bill fails to address the root problem of the existence in Canada of jobs that humiliate and degrade workers. Work permits can only be issued by visa officers after the employer’s job offer has been validated by Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC). Why is such work available in Canada if it humiliates and degrades workers?

- Only a handful of work permits have been issued to “exotic dancers” in recent years. Parliamentary time would be better used to address the broader problem of the exploitation of non-citizens in Canada.

- The bill proposes to address the problem of exploitation by excluding people, mostly women, from Canada. It is demeaning for women to have a visa officer decide that they should be kept out of Canada for their own protection.

- The bill fails to address the situation of the most vulnerable of exploited non-citizens: those who have no valid work permit. In fact, closing the door on valid work permits may expose women to greater vulnerability by forcing them underground.

- The government’s focus on “strippers” betrays a moralistic approach. Instead of passing moral judgment, the government should work on ensuring that non-citizens’ rights are protected and that they have the freedom to make informed choices about their own lives.

The Minister’s announcement of Bill C-57 is available at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/press/07/2007-05-16.html

CIC
News release
Canada’s new government to facilitate the immigration of stateless
Vietnamese living in the Philippines

Ottawa, May 22, 2007 — The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of
Citizenship and Immigration, today announced that Canada will facilitate
the immigration of Vietnamese living in the Philippines without status
since the late 1970s through humanitarian and compassionate provisions.

“Canada’s new government will make every effort to examine the special
circumstances of this community, and to facilitate their immigration to
Canada,” said Minister Finley. “We will work with the Vietnamese Canadian
Federation to identify those still living in the Philippines without
status.”

Following the fall of Saigon in 1975, more than half a million Vietnamese
fled Vietnam, with many arriving in the Philippines. Several hundred
Vietnamese eventually remained in the Philippines because they were not
recognized as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees. A number have since immigrated to other countries, including
Canada, as part of an international effort to help them. But approximately
150 Vietnamese remain without status in the Philippines.

While this group is not considered to be in need of protection, they can
apply for humanitarian and compassionate consideration. This is a
discretionary provision under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
which allows for permanent residence to be granted on humanitarian and
compassionate grounds. Applications received by December 31, 2007, will be
considered on a priority basis. This does not guarantee acceptance. While
the goal is to facilitate the immigration of these individuals to Canada,
immigration officers must examine applications on a case-by-case basis and
use their discretion to decide whether the case warrants exemption from
the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Regulations.

The Sudbury Star
http://www.thesudburystar.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=533615&catname=Editorial&classif =
Bill has politics written all over it
Editorial - Friday, May 18, 2007 @ 09:00

It is hard to understand why the federal Conservative government, having been in power for so little time, has decided the plight of exotic dancers needs to be pushed to the top of the national agenda.

The industry in Canada, apparently, has a shortage of workers, so immigrants are needed, but very few are actually entering the country for that purpose.

It is not possible to make an impassioned argument that a shortage of workers in the exotic dancing industry would somehow be damaging to the nation's economic health, but it is also hard to buy into Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley's bill aimed at barring foreign exotic dancers from entering Canada.

Bill C-57 would give immigration officers at foreign missions the power to refuse temporary workers thought to be at risk of exploitation.

It has the look of political opportunism, with the idea of sustaining the spectre of Liberal scandal.

Finley says the new legislation was merely a response to the previous Liberal government's scandal in which former immigration minister Judy Sgro fast-tracked immigration papers of a Romanian stripper who worked on her election campaign.

Said Finley: "The good old days of Liberal Stripper-gate will be a thing of the past."

She is also trying to play the moral card, which, on the surface, is hard to argue with.

Said Finley: "What we're trying to do here is protect vulnerable foreign workers, ones that could easily be exposed to sexual exploitation, harassment and abuse."

In 2005, after the rules were tightened up by the Liberals, 10 people were admitted into the country with temporary work permits for the purpose of working as exotic dancers.

And now the issue has somehow made it onto the national agenda.

While we cannot question Finley's stated and worthwhile intention of protecting immigrant women from being forced into prostitution, how does this bill address any problems with the exotic dancing industry?

Said Annie Temple, who operates an advocacy website for strippers: "Keeping foreign exotic dancers out of Canada will not address the issue of exploitation. If the Conservative government is truly concerned about exploitation of exotic dancers, then they should focus on ensuring health and safety standards exist at strip clubs." Fair enough.

If there are problems with the industry, address them. Simply barring foreign strippers, while leaving whatever problems exist to Canadian workers cannot be a pragmatic solution.

Finley will likely continue to paint this legislation as humanitarian gesture, but she has not made a convincing argument for the need for a new law, which will take up the time of parliamentary committees.

Bill C-57 is too half-hearted to be taken seriously and it is not an effective use of a valuable government legislative agenda.

Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board is in the midst of what some observers call a "crisis" situation. The chair of the board has resigned, as well as an advisory panel. And the board is short of one third of the members who make Board decisions.


May 10, 2007
OTTAWA – The Conservative government continues to drag its feet on fixing Canada’s refugee system at the expense of fairness, objectivity, efficiency and compassion, Liberal Immigration Critic Omar Alghabra charged today.

“This government is unwilling to acknowledge that it has created a crisis at the Immigration and Refugee Board, let alone deal with the ever-growing backlog of individuals awaiting case hearings under its watch,” said Mr. Alghabra.

“Most concerning is the fact that they are putting their political interests and ideology before those facing life and death.”

Mr. Alghabra made his comments following the passage of his motion at the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration today.

The motion rejects the intention of the Conservative government to change the selection process for appointing IRB adjudicators. It calls on the Conservative government to stop politicizing the IRB appointment process and to fill the 60 vacancies on the IRB with members from a pool of qualified candidates in order to process the mounting backlog of refugee cases. According to recent reports, the backlog has doubled in the first three months of this year.

Last month, former IRB chairman Jean-Guy Fleury told the committee that the government’s plans to allow the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to appoint half the members of an independent advisory body leaves the board open to political influences.

Since taking power last year, the minority Conservatives have allowed the number of vacancies on the board’s 156-member compliment to grow from five to 60.

All committee members voted in favour of Mr. Alghabra’s motion except for the Conservative members. In fact, the Conservative members will be tabling their own dissenting report to contradict the motion.

“The Conservatives campaigned on reducing political influence when it comes to government appointments, instead they are setting back the clock on significant progress that had been made over the last few years under the Liberal government,” said Mr. Alghabra. “This is further proof that they just don’t care about this issue. But Canadians care about the integrity of our systems, they care about the fairness of our processes and they care about the implication these changes will have. They continue to put politics ahead of the integrity of Canada’s desire to pursue fairness and compassion.”

OTTAWA, May 8 /CNW Telbec/ - The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) is sending a provocative Canadian-made television advertising
campaign around the world in an effort to raise awareness about the plight of
more than 20 million refugees.
The pro bono campaign created by ad agency BBDO Toronto, in partnership
with the UNHCR, is being distributed to a dozen countries, including Austria,
Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Mexico, Serbia, Kosovo,
Switzerland, Tanzania and the United Kingdom. The creative focuses on
highlighting the refugee experience by showing what it may be like to be
without shelter, food and water.
The 30-second television spot features an animated sequence of a snail
being forcibly removed from its shell. The spot ends with the tagline: "If you
think this is disturbing, you should know its being done to over 20 million
people around the world." The radio ad announces an address in a well-known
Toronto neighbourhood and advises the residents of that home that they have
been displaced. The series of print ads contrast the daily living challenges
of refugees with those of Canadians. The entire series of ads can be viewed by
visiting the website at: http://www.unhcr.ca/help.
"We realize that if advertising can sell products, why not use its power
to help people understand that millions of ordinary people are caught in a
nightmare of persecution, violence and personal tragedy," said Jahanshah
Assadi, the UNHCR Representative in Canada. "These people desperately need our
help and the campaign will help to create much-needed awareness about
refugees," he added.
"We've all seen the news reports and images of refugees around the world,
but the challenge in telling their stories is that their experiences are so
far removed from our daily lives. Now imagine coming home after a long day at
work to find that all your personal possessions and the home you know have
been taken from you. This is an experience we can all relate to and we used
this as our starting point for the campaign so people could begin to
understand what refugees around the world go through on a daily basis," said
Patrick Scissons, VP, Associate Creative Director, BBDO Toronto.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, the most critical regions for
refugees around the world include the following:

1.8 million Iraqis have been displaced within Iraq, and up to two million
others have fled their country, mainly to Syria and Jordan; this represents
more than one in eight Iraqis who have been forced from their homes.

Two million people have been displaced in Sudan's Darfur region, and over
220,000 have fled to neighboring Chad, which is itself now faced with the
internal displacement of up to 120,000 of its own citizens amid growing
regional insecurity.
More than three million people have been displaced inside Colombia,
representing eight percent of the country's population as a result of the
decades-long armed conflict between irregular armed groups and government
forces. Nearly 500,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries such as
Ecuador and Venezuela.

The campaign will lead up to the internationally recognized World Refugee
Day, which is observed every year on June 20. It is a day set aside to take
notice of the world's refugees uprooted by violence and persecution, and to
offer support and assurance that they are not forgotten. The television spot
will be used as the main centerpiece to promote World Refugee Day in Belgium,
Austria, Croatia and Serbia.
The UNHCR-BBDO advertising campaign was recently honoured at the annual
Canadian Marketing Awards with five awards, including the gold, two silvers,
and one certificate in the category of Public Service Single Print/Outdoor/Out
of Home. In addition, the campaign received the prestigious Andy Rogers Award
for the highest scoring public service announcement.

About the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

The UNHCR works in 116 countries to provide protection and assistance to
an estimated 21 million refugees, and other displaced and needy persons. The
UN refugee agency, which has won two Nobel Peace Prizes, was established by
the UN General Assembly in 1950 to protect refugees and resolve refugee
problems worldwide and has helped more than 50 million people over the past
five decades. For more information, visit the website at: www.unhcr.ca

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

** I was really excited about this - cool that Canada is leading the campaign.

Former Supreme Court Justice Bertha Wilson, who died Saturday, wrote the Singh decision recognizing the right of refugee claimants under the Charter to fundamental justice. Refugee Rights Day, celebrated each 4 April, marks the anniversary of this decision.


April 4, 2005 marks the 20th anniversary of the Singh decision, through which the Supreme Court of Canada recognized the basic rights of refugees. The Court ruled that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the right of refugee claimants in Canada to life, liberty and security of the person, and that claimants are therefore entitled to an oral hearing, in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.
http://www.web.net/~ccr/rrdayadvisory.html

To read the decision - click here

Toronto Star
Refugee claim backlog soars in first quarter

44 adjudicator jobs go unfilled, as Conservatives `hijack' immigration board, critic says
Apr 29, 2007 04:30 AM
Joan Bryden
CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA–Canada's backlog of refugee claims almost doubled in the first quarter of 2007 as the Harper government continued to drag its feet on filling vacancies at the Immigration and Refugee Board.

As of March 31, the effective backlog, based on 26,164 pending claims stood at 6,164 – up from 3,495 at the end of 2006.

Over the same period, the number of adjudicators available to hear claims actually declined by one, while the average length of time to process a claim rose slightly to 12.6 months from 12.3.

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives took power just over a year ago, there were only five vacancies on the 119-member, quasi-judicial board. That grew to 18 by last July, to 43 by the end of last year and to 44 today.

The board has grappled with backlogs before. Indeed, 2005 was a banner year in which, for the first time in a decade, the backlog was essentially reduced to zero.

But board spokesperson Melissa Anderson said it is "significant" to see the backlog grow by almost 3,000 claims in only three months.

"Our previous backlog took a while to kind of build, really, and it was driven primarily by large, significant increases in new claims," she said.

"Whereas this time, what's quite different is really the number of refugee claimants hasn't gone up very significantly ... It's being driven this time, sort of internally, essentially through the lack of members (to hear claims)."

Mike Fraser, a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Diane Finley, said 39 adjudicators have been appointed to the IRB since the Conservatives took office. A new chair and vice-chair also have been named and the government is "moving forward with a national search for candidates."

Fraser noted the government commissioned an independent review of refugee board appointments and is implementing the resulting recommendations. Among other things, all new board members will have to pass a written exam.

The so-called reforms also give the minister more say in the choice of adjudicators. Critics fear that change will politicize appointments.

Liberal immigration critic Omar Alghabra (Mississauga-Erindale) said in an interview the Conservatives appear to be deliberately dawdling, "hijacking IRB for their own political benefit, whether to appoint their friends or whether to impose their ideology."

Alghabra said it means legitimate refugees are in limbo longer – an injustice to them and an increased financial burden on the state which provides health, education and social assistance until claims are settled. Also, bogus refugees get to stay longer, with potential implications for Canadian security.

Australia and US to swap refugees
Barbara McMahon in Sydney
Wednesday April 18, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Asylum seekers intercepted at sea while trying to reach Australia are to be sent to the United States under a controversial refugee-swapping scheme designed to deter illegal migrants.
Under the plan announced by Australia's immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, some of the boat people picked up in international waters off the coast of Australia will be re-settled halfway around the world.

In exchange, Australia will accept asylum seekers currently being held in detention at the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay, mostly Cubans and Haitians who have also been intercepted at sea.

The agreement between the two countries, ratified in Washington last week, will involve each country processing about 200 of each others refugees a year.

Commenting on the scheme in a radio interview, Australia's prime minister, John Howard, who has a famously tough stance on illegal immigration, claimed it would deter people smuggling.

"I think people who want to come to Australia will be deterred by anything that sends a message that getting to the Australian mainland illegally is not going to happen," he said.

The opposition Labour party criticised the plan. The party's leader, Kevin Rudd, said the policy would simply establish Australia as a halfway house for asylum seekers wanting to reach the United States.

Refugee organizations expressed outrage at the scheme, saying it would be cruel to resettle asylum seekers in countries where they have no cultural connections.

Pamela Curr of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said: "This is not a container load of washing machines that we've decided to reject. These are human beings.

"They're our responsibility and this policy is shredding the United Nations refugee convention."

The first group to go to the US will probably be 83 Sri Lankans and eight Burmese people, who were picked up in unseaworthy wooden boats in February and who have since been detained on the Pacific island of Nauru, where Australia processes some of its asylum seekers.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

Le Canada est invité à ouvrir ses portes aux Irakiens
Claude Lévesque
Le Devoir, Édition du mardi 17 avril 2007

À la veille d'une conférence internationale sur le sujet à Genève, le Conseil canadien pour les réfugiés (CCR) et plusieurs organismes communautaires locaux demandent au Canada d'ouvrir plus grandes ses portes aux Irakiens ayant fui leur pays dévasté par la guerre.

« Nous sommes atterrés de constater que le Canada n'a ouvert ses portes jusqu'à maintenant qu'à très peu de réfugiés irakiens, même si de nombreux Canadiens ont présenté des offres de parrainage », a déploré hier la présidente du CCR, Elizabeth McWeeny.

Selon cette organisation, le Canada n'a pris « aucun engagement concret » pour répondre à la crise qui a provoqué l'exode de près de quatre millions d'Irakiens, dont la moitié dans les pays voisins.

Le CCR demande notamment au Canada d'augmenter le nombre de réfugiés bénéficiant d'un parrainage gouvernemental. « Cela fait partie de sa responsabilité internationale », note Janet Dench, directrice du CCR.

Au ministère de l'Immigration et de la Citoyenneté, on indique, de faççon assez générale, que le Canada « projette en 2007 de réinstaller 2140 réfugiés du Moyen-Orient, dont une partie importante seront des ressortissants irakiens ». Vu la situation en Irak, le Canada pourrait en accueillir 500 de plus, a indiqué une porte-parole du ministère.

Ce nombre inclut vraisemblablement les réfugiés parrainés par le gouvernement et les parrainages privés et ne se limite pas à l'Irak.

Se basant sur les informations fournies par sept groupes communautaires irakiens du Canada, le Conseil canadien des réfugiés affirme d'autre part que les demandes de parrainage privé (présentées par ces groupes ou par des familles) sont trop souvent refusées.

Le CCR a décrit hier dans un communiqué plusieurs cas de refus au consulat canadien à Damas (qui couvre aussi bien la Jordanie que la Syrie), dont celui d'une famille dont une fille avait été enlevée et tuée à Bagdad en février 2005.

« Dans le passé, comme il l'a fait pour les missions de maintien de la paix, le Canada s'était montré parmi les pays les plus actifs. Ainsi en 1999, il comptait parmi les plus enthousiastes pour accueillir les réfugiés du Kosovo », a noté Janet Dench.

En remontant plus loin, on se rappellera que le Canada s'était aussi montré très accueillant envers les boat people vietnamiens, et qu'il a reççu en 1986 la Récompense Nansen du Haut Commissariat des nations pour les réfugiés (HCR).

Le CCR trouve également trop longue la procédure de traitement des demandes d'asile au consulat du Canada à Damas. Le resserrement des règles visant le renouvellement des permis de séjour en Syrie et en Jordanie, où se trouvent la majorité des réfugiés irakiens, fait planer sur ces derniers la menace d'une expulsion vers leur pays d'origine.

Le Haut Commissariat aux réfugiés, qui misait jusqu'alors sur une amélioration de la situation en Irak, multiplie depuis l'an dernier les appels à la communauté internationale en faveur des réfugiés irakiens, dont un retour en toute sécurité dans leur pays devient de plus en plus incertain.

Immigrant Detention at Hutto watch the video.

This two-minute Freedom Files video short provides a shocking glimpse into
conditions at a Texas facility to detain immigrants run by the Department of
Homeland Security. Of the approximately 400 detainees at the Hutto Detention
Facility, many are children who belong to refugee families seeking political
asylum in the U.S. after escaping persecution in their country of origin.

The video introduces viewers to children like two-year-old Angie and her
older sister Nixcari, who had been confined for months in the bleak,
barbed-wire encased Hutto facility, where children wear prison garb and are
held in small cells for the majority of each day. Recreational time is
severely limited as are educational opportunities. Access to medical, dental
and mental health treatment is inadequate. From one mother who was confined
with her 12-year-old: ".a psychological trauma my daughter and I will carry
with us for the rest of our lives."

This tool is cool - it shows the distribution of immigrants across the world. Toronto is part of the 1,000,000 or more foreign born residents and Montreal is 500,000 - 1,000,000 :)

check out the tool

Toronto Star
Refugee crisis rattles Iraq

As war enters fifth year, escalating humanitarian woes remain unnoticed by much of world
Mar 20, 2007 04:30 AM
Tim Harper
Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON–Americans enter the fifth year of the Iraq war today amid renewed warnings that the 2003 invasion is sparking a humanitarian crisis unnoticed by much of the world.

"I don't think anyone has a good grasp of the breadth of the problem we are facing here," said Dana Graber, who is working with displaced Iraqis in Jordan for the International Organization for Migration.

As the violence in Iraq continues unabated, Graber predicted yesterday another million Iraqis will be uprooted by a war that has already forced 2 million from their homes to neighbouring countries, putting particular strain on services in Syria and Jordan.

Another 1.7 million have been internally displaced, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Those dealing with this burgeoning crisis say more and more Iraqis are fleeing their country without the means to support themselves, with some 40,000 pouring into Syria each month, according to the UN.

In Jordan's capital Amman, the population has been swollen by 30 per cent by the Iraqi influx, pushing up rents and food costs, straining health care and educational resources and courting a backlash from Jordanians.

The UN World Food Program last week launched an appeal for $1.7 million (U.S.) to feed Iraqis in Syria and the UNHCR is seeking $60 million in aid to deal with the displaced in Damascus and Amman, as well as Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey.

Iraqi refugees are expected to double to 40,000 in Europe this year and the U.S. has agreed to admit 7,000 this year, up from a mere 466 last year.

Ottawa has not yet responded to an appeal from Washington to open its door to the displaced.

"They are arriving here with the most basic of needs, food and shelter," Graber said from Amman. "More and more are living without proper health care or proper sanitation."

The UNHCR, in appealing for funding earlier this year, said it had planned to help resettled refugees after some stability returned to Iraq.

"In 2006, however, spiralling violence led to increasing displacement," it said in a statement, "necessitating a reassessment of UNHCR's work and its priorities throughout the region ... providing more help to the thousands who are fleeing every month."

In remarks to the nation yesterday, U.S. President George W. Bush again appealed to Americans to show patience, but there is precious little patience among a restive U.S. electorate.

The war has already claimed 3,220 U.S. lives and estimates of Iraqi deaths range from 60,000 to 650,000, according to one study. More than 24,000 Americans have been wounded.

By the end of this year, the price of the war in the U.S. is expected to hit $500 billion.

Polls released to mark the anniversary painted a black picture of life for war-weary Iraqis.

More than six in 10 Iraqis say their lives are going badly according to a poll done for ABC News, the Washington Post, USA Today, the BBC and ARD, a German television network. That is double the percentage who characterized their lives that way in November 2005.

The poll of more than 2,200 Iraqis also found about half believed the Bush surge of some 30,000 U.S. troops will only worsen the security situation.

For the first time, more than half said they did not believe they were better off now than they were before the invasion.

Against this grim backdrop, Bush is promising to veto any legislation that comes out of the Democrat-led Congress which would set a "date certain" for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Debate on a Democrat resolution which would withdraw U.S. troops by the end of August 2008 is set to begin Thursday.

"It can be tempting to look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude our best option is to pack up and go home," Bush said.

"That may be satisfying in the short run, but I believe the consequences for American security would be devastating."

He said these are early days of his troop surge plan aimed at securing Baghdad and success will take months but first there will be "good days and ... bad days."

His spokesperson, Tony Snow, said the Democratic bill will be vetoed so the House leadership should just sit down and negotiate something palatable to the White House.

"It is a withdraw-the-troops bill, not a fund-the-troops bill," Snow said. "It would also force failure of the mission in Iraq and forfeit the sacrifices made by our troops."

But Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha, a leading proponent of setting a "date certain" for U.S. withdrawal, said there is no reason to believe the White House when it says chaos will follow a U.S. departure from Iraq.

"What has the White House said all this time?" he said on MSNBC. "The White House said there's weapons of mass destruction, the White House says we can do this with less troops, the White House says mission accomplished.

"Why would I believe what the White House says?"